Still Dreaming
by krose240
Summary: Loki's escaped from Asgard and is planning a new attack on the Earth, but SHIELD needs the help of a new, and rather stubborn, Avenger. Rose Hunter, a dreamwalker, is recruited by Fury and tasked with the job of infiltrating Loki's dreams to gather information on his plans, but, when she meets the dashing Dr. Banner, things get complicated. Book 1 of the Still Dreaming trilogy.
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N:**__ First off, thanks to all you wonderful people who clicked my story. Secondly, yes, the OC in this story, Rose Hunter, is the same one I used in my Tony Stark/OC oneshot _An Unexpected Encounter_. For the record, this will be a continuing story and not a oneshot, so cheers for that. And, another thing, in this story there will be mention of an ability called dreamwalking. I know some of you have heard of it or have an idea of what it is. Don't worry, though, because if you haven't a clue what it is I'll explain as the story goes on. Anyhow, enough talk for me, enjoy the story!_

* * *

Rose Hunter casually took a seat at an empty table in the café, grateful that she had managed to snag one in a secluded corner with a decent view of the entrance. She set her coffee on the table and absently surveyed her surroundings. Some people might think her paranoid; others might just dismiss her altogether. Frankly, she liked the latter better. She'd always been a bit of a loner, preferring to remain silent and inconspicuous. That was the best for her; always had been, always would be.

Deeming the café free of potential stalkers, Rose took one long sip of her coffee before leaning back in her chair and closing her eyes. Everything was better in the dreamworld for her. After all, that was where her true power resided. Rose Hunter was a dreamwalker.

"Ms. Hunter."

Rose's bright green eyes snapped open in annoyance as she glared at the man who had taken the liberty of joining her at the table.

"The answer's no, Fury," she spat.

Fury sighed. "You're not even going to listen?"

"Since when do I listen to you?" Rose asked, raising an eyebrow at the director.

Fury frowned. "We need you to come in," he said.

"I thought I already told you my answer?"

"And I thought you already knew that SHIELD doesn't take no for an answer?"

Rose glared at Fury. "The fuck is so urgent anyhow?"

"Ever heard of Loki?" Fury asked.

"The Norse god of mischief who got raped by a horse?" Rose asked with a smirk, "And nearly destroyed New York City? Yeah…what's the big deal?"

Fury frowned. "He escaped Asgard. We suspect he's gathering a new army to attack the earth again."

"And why exactly are you telling me this?"

"Because we need you to help stop him," Fury replied.

Rose paused now. So this was why they were calling her in? She didn't think that was all, but she knew she could easily pry the information from Fury later…in his dreams. Despite how much she hated the idea of working with SHIELD, the thought of being so close to the organization's dirtiest secrets was intriguing.

"Fine," she said, feigning indifference, "I'm in. What'll I be doing?"

"What you do best," Fury replied, standing, "…there will be a car outside your apartment at six to take you to Stark Tower."

"Stark Tower?" Rose asked, confused.

"It's kind of Avengers HQ now," Fury muttered, sounding rather annoyed, "…blame Stark for that one."

With that, the director turned and left the café, leaving Rose all alone with her now cold coffee.

* * *

Rose ran a brush through her messy blue hair. She'd died it regularly for a few years now in order to hide her hair's true color: blonde. Everyone always judged her with blonde hair, thinking she was silent and solitary because she was stupid. With blue hair, no one ever questioned her intelligence, just her choice in hair color. That was a refreshing change.

Clad in a simple pair of dark skinny jeans and a grey tank top, Rose gathered her cell phone and her red leather jacket before slipping out of her apartment and locking the door. She had a feeling she wouldn't be back for a while.

The car was black and unmarked and waiting outside the building just as Fury had said it would be. It was six o'clock on the dot. Slipping on her jacket, she slid silently into the car. "Let's get this over with," she muttered. The driver must have heard her because he nodded slightly and began towards the so-called Avengers HQ.

The drive wasn't more than thirty minutes, but to Rose is felt like two hours. She kept silent the entire way, utterly and completely annoyed with Fury for dragging her into the Avengers mess. It wasn't until the car stopped outside the tower that Rose suddenly realized that Fury was the least of her problems. She'd have to deal with Tony Stark. She mentally swore to herself and stepped out of the car, not bothering to thank the driver as she made her way inside.

She was greeted by a beautiful young woman with strawberry blonde hair. It took no time for Rose to size up Ms. Potts as Mr. Stark's secretary, what with her pencil skirt and matching blouse, not to mention the size of her heels. Rose pitied her for a moment, wondering how painful those shoes were and thanking the heavens that she didn't have to wear them. She'd stick to her flats, thanks.

"Ms. Hunter?" Pepper asked.

Rose snapped back into reality and nodded. "It's Rose," she said, "…none of this "Miss" stuff."

Pepper laughed a bit. "Alright then, Rose," she said, "I'm Pepper Potts, Mr. Stark's personal assistant. Please follow me."

"Sure, whatever," Rose muttered, following after Pepper and adjusting her jacket. The pair slipped into an elevator and Pepper punched in a special code on the keypad. The elevator began to rise silently. Rose would have liked the whole ride up to stay silent, but…

"Good luck with Tony," Pepper said, "…he's a handful."

Rose rolled her eyes. "So I've heard. Frankly, I'd rather deal with Fury than I would Stark."

"I'm not surprised," Pepper replied. Just then, the elevator doors opened on the top floor and Rose mentally thanked the heavens. She always hated talking.

Pepper and Rose stepped out into a giant penthouse suite. Rose did a quick scan of the room and laughed mentally. Yup, typical billionaire, going overboard like this. As she caught sight of the bar, Rose paused. All the Avengers sat on barstools, each drinking their own glass of something. She wasn't sure if she was grateful or upset that Fury wasn't there yet.

Pepper motioned for Rose to follow her over to the bar and Rose reluctantly obeyed.

"Nice of you to join us, Dreamy," drawled Stark, laughing a bit at his own joke.

"Tony, be nice," Pepper said, rolling her eyes and snatching Tony's glass of champagne.

"When am I ever not nice?" Tony asked.

No one spoke up and Tony laughed, pouring himself a new drink. "See? Everyone agrees with me!"

"You're such a child," Rose muttered, rolling her eyes and going to sit on the only open barstool.

"What was that? I couldn't hear you," Tony said, smirking.

"Really, Stark," Steve said, "is it necessary to tease her like this? She is the new girl, after all."

Rose wasn't sure whether to thank Steve, or smack him. She hated it when people stood up for her in battles she knew she could win.

"Are you guys done playing around?" asked the man to Rose's right.

"For all our sakes I hope you are," muttered Natasha, shaking her head at the thought of angering Dr. Banner.

"Come on, Bruce," Tony said with a laugh, "I'm just playing around."

The man beside Rose, Bruce, she'd learned, rolled his eyes. "I really don't think now's a good time to play around, what with Loki on the loose."

Tony sighed. "Fine, I'll try to be serious," he muttered, defeated.

"Do or do not, there is no try," Rose muttered, automatically quoting the wise old Yoda before she could stop herself. Silence enveloped the room and she was sure everyone had heard. She mentally braced herself for Tony's comeback, but it never came. Instead, she was enveloped in laughter.

"I didn't say anything that funny," Rose said.

"No one's ever told Tony off like that," Pepper said with a giggle, leaning over and kissing Tony on the cheek. Stark was red as a cherry.

"Done fooling around?" came the voice of Fury. Everyone silenced and turned as one as the one-eyed man made his way to the bar.

Fury approached Rose and placed a dark hand on her shoulder, which she quickly shrugged off. "This is Rose Hunter, our new recruit," he said, "she's a dreamwalker."

A slight murmur went up around the room, but Steve was the first to actually speak up.

"What's a dreamwalker?" he asked.

Rose frowned. "I can enter people's dreams," she said, "nothing special."

"And I'm Iron Man, nothing special," Tony said.

"Can you just shut up for five seconds?" Rose growled, "Seriously, nobody cares!"

Everyone stared at Rose in shock and she had the sudden urge to go crawl in a hole.

"Look," Bruce said, easily guessing how Rose was feeling right then, "can we just get on with the meeting? Do we have any new information?"

Rose stole a glance towards Bruce as the conversation continued around her. She wanted to thank him for changing the subject, but how?

"And Rose, that's where you come in," Fury said, "…Rose?"

Rose snapped out of her thoughts and looked to Fury. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't catch that…"

"You're going to try to sneak your way into Loki's dreams and gather information," Fury explained.

Rose frowned. "You do realize that my abilities have limits. I can't exactly just walk into any dream I want. If Loki's too far away, I won't be able to stay there for much longer than a few minutes."

"Stark and Dr. Banner here have been working on something to fix that," Fury said.

"Something to expand my range?" Rose asked, glancing between Dr. Banner and Stark.

"It's basically like a satellite dish that'll allow you to enter the dreams of people who aren't even on this planet for upwards of an hour," Stark said, "pretty cool if you ask me."

"Nobody asked you," Rose replied, "…so what is everyone else doing while we wait for more information?"

"Trying to find him," Natasha answered.

"His body emits a gamma signature," Bruce said, "I've been doing all I can to trace it."

"I've been helping," Stark piped up.

"And the rest of us have been using the satellites in space, trying to intercept any frequencies that aren't from Earth," Clint said.

"So, let me get this straight," Rose said, "you're basically screwed if I can't reach Loki's dreams, yes?"

"No…..well, maybe," everyone muttered, "…okay, yeah, pretty much."

"Dr. Banner," Rose said, "…care to show me this device you and Stark have been working on?"

"I'll come too," Stark said, but Rose shot a glare at him.

"To hell you will," Rose said, "…Dr. Banner's perfectly capable of escorting me on his own."

And, with that, Bruce and Rose silently left the room and headed for the elevator. They stepped in and began their silent descent to the labs down below.


	2. Chapter 2

Dr. Banner led Rose down the hall towards his lab silently, secretly grateful that Stark hadn't followed them down.

"Thanks," Rose said suddenly.

Bruce raised an eyebrow as they reached his lab and turned to look at Rose. "For what?"

"For changing the subject earlier," Rose said softly.

"Oh, that…" Bruce muttered, typing in his passcode and pushing open the door to his lab, "…yeah…no problem…"

Rose silently followed Bruce inside and glanced around.

"Over here," Bruce said, making his way back to a door and unlocking it. Rose followed him and slipped inside as he held the door. Inside was a small room with a bed and a large device that had a bunch of wires dangling from it. Rose frowned at the sight.

"I'm not exactly a fan of being locked in a room with wires attached to my body," Rose said.

"You and me both," Bruce replied, "but it's pretty much all we have. Those wires allow your brain to connect to radiowaves, particularly those being sent to satellites in space. It's kind of like a wifi connection for your dreamwalking."

Rose nodded slightly. "You sure it works?"

"Not a damn clue," Bruce answered.

"Then I guess we should give it a try," Rose said with a sigh, sliding off her jacket and tossing it to Banner as she sat down on the bed. Banner caught the jacket, smiling just a bit to himself, and setting the jacket on a chair before heading over to the machine.

"Can you hold your hair out of the way for me?" Bruce asked with a slight smile as he gathered up the wires.

"Oh…yeah," Rose said, pulling her hair back with her hand as Bruce began attaching the wires. When he was done, she let down her hair again and sighed a bit.

"So," Bruce said, pulling up a chair and sitting down beside the bed and machine, "how are we going to test this?"

"I was thinking I'd just go ahead and try to reach Loki," Rose said, "I can reach anyone on this planet for at least an hour, but the real test for this thing would be trying someone on a different planet. Loki's the best one to test it with."

"Then I guess it goes without saying that you should go ahead and see what you can find if it works," Bruce said.

Rose nodded. "That was the plan," she said, laying down on the bed and letting out a sigh, "…if I'm not awake again in two hours, just touch my shoulder. I shouldn't need any more time than that to find something useful."

Bruce nodded and said," Good luck. I'll stay here and keep an eye on you."

Rose smiled just a bit and closed her eyes. "Thanks," she whispered, slipping into the dreamworld.

* * *

_Rose opened her bright green eyes and looked around. So far she was pretty sure the machine was working. She was in Loki's dreams and hadn't been booted yet like she knew she normally would have. She glanced around, taking in her surroundings. Loki was dreaming that he was in what looked like paradise. He was nowhere to be seen and Rose was grateful for that. She didn't want him knowing of her presence._

"_Okay," she muttered to herself, "I'm in his dreams, therefore in his mind. People typically keep their biggest secrets and other important information locked away in a special place. So I need to find that special place, wherever it is…"_

_As she thought aloud to herself, Rose witnessed the scene change before her very eyes. She was now inside a majestic building, a castle she believed. Perhaps this was Asgard? It would make sense for the vengeful Loki to dream of Asgard. After all, the man wanted to rule it._

_Surveying the scene quickly, Rose gathered that she was standing in the throne room. No one was around, but she had a feeling that she hadn't much time to search the room. Loki had wanted to rule Asgard, had felt himself the rightful king._

"_No," Rose whispered, "it can't be this easy…"_

_She approached the throne and placed her hand on the armrest, gasping out in sudden pain and pulling her hand away. That was where he was keeping his secrets, Rose was certain, but it was going to be hard to break in. Rose took a deep breath and went to place her hand on the throne once more, but stopped midway, sensing the presence of someone else._

"_Can I help you?" came the voice of Loki. Rose could practically hear the smirk on his face. She slowly turned to face him, glaring daggers at the Norse god._

"_What do we have here?" Loki asked, slowly parading over to Rose, studying her, sizing her up._

"_Don't be shy," Loki purred, laughing a bit, "…why are you here?"_

"_Sightseeing," Rose spat. She already hated this guy more than Stark. Funny, she hadn't thought a more despicable man existed._

"_You're lying," Loki replied._

"_So what if I am?"_

_Loki smirked and reached for Rose's wrist, grasping it tightly before she could pull away. "You're here for information," he said._

_Rose frowned, clenching her trapped hand into a fist. She took a step back, a step closer to the throne._

"_SHIELD sent you," Loki continued, "am I right?"_

"_The fuck do you care who sent me?" Rose asked, continuing to back up, feigning intimidation. If she could just stall him a bit longer…_

"_I'm a curious man," Loki replied._

"_So what if SHIELD sent me for information," Rose said._

"_I can't have them learning my plans, little one," Loki hissed._

_Rose felt her leg make contact with the throne and focused all of her energy on breaking through the throne's security. Thanks to Loki's hand on her wrist, she'd cracked through in an instant._

"_A little too late for that," Rose replied, smirking as she glared at Loki, her bright eyes glowing now. She had what she needed, all of his dirty little secrets._

"_What did you just do?!" Loki growled, releasing Rose's wrist and taking a step back, anger glowing in his eyes._

"_Wouldn't you like to know?" Rose asked, refusing to break contact with the throne. The longer she touched it, the more she could learn. The throne was indeed the gateway to his darkest secrets._

_Loki lunged at her and knocked her away from the throne, breaking her connection. Rose was pissed, but she'd learned at least the bare minimum of what she needed: his location and his plans._

"_You'll pay for this, you know," Loki growled._

_Rose struggled to free herself from Loki. She knew she couldn't leave the dreamworld until she was free of his grasp. That was, unless Banner woke her._

"_Come on, Banner," Rose whispered, closing her eyes, continuing to struggle against Loki until, suddenly, she was enveloped in a bright light._

* * *

Rose opened her eyes, squinting as she found herself once more in the back room of Banner's lab. Bruce stood over her, his hand still on her shoulder.

"Perfect timing," she said, letting out a laugh, "really, you have no idea…"

Bruce smiled. "Glad I could be of assistance. Find anything?"

"Yeah," Rose said, moving to sit up. Banner, however, pushed her back down onto the bed with the hand that was still on her shoulder.

"Let me disconnect you first," he said, his other hand reaching up and peeling the wires away.

Rose lay there silently, watching as Bruce removed the wires, catching glimpses of his muscular arms here and there. For a doctor, Banner sure was in great shape.

"Okay," Bruce said, "you can sit up now."

Rose nodded and did so, turning to face Banner while remaining on the bed.

"What'd you find?" Bruce asked.

"I found Loki's hideout," Rose said, "it's been right under our noses this whole time…"

"Where is it?"

Rose paused for a moment, then finally said, "Asgard."

"Asgard? But he escaped Asgard," Bruce said, confused.

"No," Rose said, shaking her head, "he's imprisoned Thor and stolen the throne. He's the one who alerted SHIELD of his own escape, told us that he'd left Asgard. He knew no one would look there if he said he'd escaped."

"Then…what does he want?" Bruce asked.

"I'm pretty sure he's planning some sort of trap for us somewhere else," Rose said. Mere seconds after she said that, Jarvis came on the intercom, "Dr. Banner, Ms. Hunter, the others have pinpointed Loki's location."

"No they haven't," Rose muttered, standing from the bed and grabbing her jacket, slipping it on in record time and heading for the door. She paused and glanced back at Bruce.

"You coming?" she asked.

He hastily nodded and followed after her.

* * *

_**A/N:**__ Sorry if this chapter was kind of confusing. I tried to make it easy to follow. Please review! I love feedback!_


	3. Chapter 3

Rose and Bruce emerged from the elevator and made their way over to the group by the bar.

"I take it Jarvis told you?" Tony asked.

"Yeah," Rose said, "and whatever you found isn't Loki."

Steve raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

Rose paused. "I…I never caught your name," she said, glancing at Steve.

"Steve Rogers," he replied, "…or Captain America…anyhow, back to the matter at hand, what do you mean?"

"Right, sorry," Rose said, "…Loki's on Asgard."

"No he's not," Clint said.

"And you are?" Rose asked.

"Hawkeye," Clint answered, narrowing his eyes at Rose.

"You'd think someone with the name Hawkeye would be able to see through an obvious trap," Rose said, "…where exactly did you 'find' him?"

"The outskirts of the solar system," Natasha said, "some place called Cybertron or something."

"He's got some allies there setting up a trap for us," Rose said, "he expects us to find a way there and perish in battle."

"And how exactly did you find this information?" Natasha asked.

"The machine works…I managed to get into Loki's dreams," Rose said, "and, in extension, his mind. Unfortunately, he caught me before I could gather much information."

"So," Tony said, "Loki's on Asgard…"

"Yes," Rose said, "he's taken control by force and imprisoned Thor…and it was his plan from the beginning to be the one to alert us that he'd escaped prison and left Asgard. After all, that was the last place we would have looked."

"What's he planning?" Steve asked.

"Another invasion of Earth," Rose said, "…I couldn't get the details on that…the best I can guess, he's enslaved the Asgardians and plans to attack while we're occupied on Cybertron or whatever that planet was."

"Well, we're not going there," Clint said.

"Then I say we make him think we are," Tony said, "simple enough, right? He wants to ambush us, why not turn the tables? Isn't that our specialty?"

"So we make him think we've left the planet to go after him?" Steve asked.

"That's the plan, I suppose," Natasha answered, "…any objections?"

Everyone was silent, glancing around at the group.

"I'll go call Fury," Natasha said, standing and leaving the room.

Rose glanced around at everyone who was left and frowned a bit, feeling rather uncomfortable.

"That was Natasha," Bruce said in an attempt to break the silence.

"Oh," Rose said, "…what's her thing?"

"She's a spy," Tony said, "…and she's got a crush on Barton."

"Hey!" Clint said, glaring at Tony.

"Please," Tony said, rolling his eyes.

"Steve, Rose, wanna go grab a bite to eat?" Bruce asked, glancing at the two sympathetically.

Steve shook his head. "Since Pepper went home I think it might be best if I stay here and keep Stark's ego in line."

Bruce laughed a bit and turned to Rose. "Rose?" he asked, flashing her a slight smile.

Rose smiled back and shrugged. "I've got nothing better to do," she said, "…why not?"

Bruce smiled and motioned for Rose to follow him to the elevator. While Tony, Clint, and Steve continued to clown around, the pair slipped into the elevator.

As the elevator descended, Rose was quiet, eyeing Bruce. Had he just saved her from another awkward situation? Or was he just as socially awkward as she was?

"Thanks for coming with me," Bruce said, glancing at Rose, "…Stark's a nice guy and all, but sometimes he gets on my nerves…"

Rose laughed a bit. "Doesn't he get on everyone's nerves?"

Bruce smiled towards Rose and ran a hand through his hair. "I kind of try to make it a point to avoid tense situations," he said.

"Same here," Rose said, "…I don't exactly like people all that much…"

Bruce laughed. "It's not that I don't like people," he said, "…it's that I don't want the Other Guy to make a mess of things…"

Rose paused for a moment, staring at Bruce rather quizzically. Then she shook her head and laughed a bit. "Well, I'm an idiot," she said, "…I mean, I kind of already know who everyone else is…I guess it just didn't click that you're, you know…"

Bruce smiled. "The Hulk?" he finished.

Rose nodded. "Note to self: don't upset Bruce," she said.

"That's a good note," Bruce replied, stepping out of the elevator as they arrived on the ground floor. Rose followed him out, hating herself for not figuring out who Bruce was earlier. It was pretty obvious, after all since the only person who'd been missing from the meeting had been Thor and she'd already been introduced to Hawkeye and the captain.

As they exited the building, Bruce turned to Rose and asked, "Where should we go?"

Rose shrugged. "You like tacos? There's a taco shop two blocks down from here."

"That works," Bruce said, motioning for Rose to lead the way. Once again, Rose thanked the heavens that she wasn't wearing heels like Pepper had been.

"You've really got a handle on the Other Guy, don't you?" Rose said, glancing towards Bruce.

Bruce shrugged slight and replied, "More or less."

"More or less? Please," Rose said, "anyone who can listen to Stark for more than five minutes without wanting to punch him in the face definitely has a hell of a lot of self control."

"He is kind of childish, isn't he?" Bruce laughed.

"Childish?" Rose asked, rolling her eyes, "He's like a horny teenager who can't shut up about himself."

"You get used to it after a while," Bruce said.

"Doubtful," Rose replied, stopping outside a small restaurant and reaching for the door. Bruce got the door before she could though and flashed her a smile, opening it.

"After you," Bruce said. Rose ducked inside quickly, hoping the doctor hadn't seen her blush.

They placed their order and took it to a secluded table that Bruce picked. Rose smiled a bit at that, glad to be with someone who understood how she felt about people. Rose quietly took her tacos from the tray and began unwrapping one of them.

"It's on your head if these suck," Bruce said.

Rose's eyes widened at Bruce's words and after a moment Bruce broke into a fit of laughter.

"Don't get so scared," Bruce said, smiling, "I'm only joking."

Rose let out a nervous laugh. "Good," she said, taking a bite out of her taco so she wouldn't have to say anything else. Bruce followed suit, taking a bite of his own taco.

"Not bad," Bruce muttered.

"Did you honestly think I'd steer you towards a shitty taco joint?" Rose asked, raising an eyebrow.

Bruce shook his head. "No," he said, "I was just testing you earlier…seeing how you'd react."

Rose rolled her eyes. "That's cruel, you know."

"Me, cruel?" Bruce asked, laughing, "Admit it, you think I'm the nicest man you've ever met."

"I wouldn't say the nicest…" Rose said, looking down at her taco to hide her blushing cheeks, "…more like the first guy I've met who actually understands me."

Bruce didn't reply and returned to his taco to hide the faint blush on his own cheeks. He wanted to tell Rose that he felt the same way about her, but he just couldn't muster the courage. Ironic, wasn't it?

* * *

Rose and Bruce returned to Stark tower a short while later and boarded the elevator. They hadn't spoken much since Rose had explained how she felt about Bruce. Oddly, Rose hated the silence between them more than anything, and she usually loved silence.

As the elevator doors closed, Rose glanced over at Bruce. The man was staring straight ahead, avoiding eye contact. Rose could barely see his cheeks. Was he…blushing? No, he couldn't be…perhaps she was imagining things.

After a moment, Bruce, having felt Rose's eyes on him, turned his head. Rose quickly looked away in embarrassment. She could practically hear Tony's teasing already.

"Just wait 'till Tony gets a load of us," Bruce muttered, saying the same thing Rose had been thinking. He laughed slightly. This was too awkward for him.

Rose smiled a bit and finally turned to look at Bruce. "'Bruce and Rose, sitting in a tree,'" she said with a giggle.

Bruce laughed with her. "The sad part is I can actually imagine him saying that."

"You're kidding," Rose exclaimed. Just then, the elevator doors opened and the pair stepped out into Tony's apartment.

"I wish I was," Bruce replied, leading Rose over to the group. Natasha had joined Steve, Clint, and Tony and was doing her best to keep Tony from causing trouble. It was clear that they were all pretty hammered.

"Hey, look," Tony slurred, "Banter's back!"

"It's Banner, Tony," Bruce corrected.

"No, it's Banter," Tony said, laughing, "Banner and Hunter."

Rose shot Tony an icy glare and muttered, "Such a child…"

"What's that?" Tony asked.

"Nothing," she said, "…look, where am I staying?"

"Hey, Brucey," Tony said, "why don't you take her to her room?"

Bruce rolled his eyes but nodded for Rose to follow as he turned to leave the room. Rose wasted no time following him, not wanting to be teased further by Tony. Who the fuck had let the bastard drink that much anyhow?


	4. Chapter 4

_**A/N:**__ To all those lurking readers of mine, go ahead and hit those follow and favorite buttons and leave a review. I love reader feedback!_

* * *

"Right here," Bruce said, turning the doorknob and opening the door to Rose's room.

Rose slipped inside and looked around. The room was much nicer than a hotel room and Rose figured she shouldn't have expected anything less. She wandered farther into the room and made her way over to the closet. She glanced inside the closet briefly before going to sit on the bed.

While Rose investigated the room, Bruce remained at the door, watching. It wasn't until Rose looked up that she realized he was still there.

"Do you…do you want to come in?" Rose asked, smiling somewhat shyly.

Bruce shrugged a bit, glancing into the hallway as if thinking of what the others would say if they saw him emerge from Rose's room later. In the end, he slipped inside and shut the door, figuring he could deal with the teasing, if it ever came.

Rose watched as Bruce made his way inside, his hands in his pockets as if he was somewhat uncomfortable.

"You don't have to stay if you're uncomfortable," Rose said, "…it was just strange having you just standing there in the doorway."

Bruce shook his head. "No, it's fine," he said, "I'll stay…may I sit?"

Rose hastily nodded. "Yeah," she said, "yeah, go ahead."

Bruce smiled a bit and took a seat on the bed beside Rose, running a hand through his dark hair. "Thanks," he said softly.

Rose watched Bruce for a moment, then asked, "Is something bothering you?"

"I guess," Bruce answered, looking down at his hands.

"Can I help?" Rose asked. She was surprised at herself, genuinely wanting to help someone. She'd never actually felt this way about anyone.

Bruce glanced over at Rose, surprised by her sudden offer. He gazed towards her for a moment, struggling to string together a decent sentence, struggling to understand what it was that drew him to Rose.

"Earth to Bruce?" Rose prompted, a little worried by Bruce's silence.

"S-sorry," Bruce said, looking away, rather embarrassed, "…I should go."

"No," Rose said, "tell me what's going on. I want to help you."

"I can't say it," Bruce said.

"Come on, Bruce," Rose said, "I'm not Tony…it's not like I'll tease you or anything."

"That's the problem," Bruce replied.

"What do you mean?"

Bruce finally looked up, gazing into Rose's bright green eyes with his kind brown ones. "I can't say what's bugging me because you're you and you're what's bugging me," he managed.

"Is this…about what I said earlier at the restaurant?" Rose asked, "Did I make you uncomfortable? If that's what this is about, you can just forget I ever said anything. You're pretty much the only person here that I get along with and I don't want you to feel uncomfortable around me."

Bruce frowned a bit and glanced down at Rose's nearest hand. Somewhat awkwardly, he reached out and took it in his own, his grip firm, yet gentle.

"I, um," Bruce muttered, refusing to look up at Rose in an effort to hide his embarrassment, "I feel the same way about you. I wanted to say it earlier…"

Rose smiled a bit and squeezed Bruce's hand. "Thanks for telling me," she said softly, "...don't you feel better having that off your chest?"

Bruce glanced up at Rose and smiled a little. "Yeah," he answered, "I do."

"Maybe you shouldn't be afraid of expressing yourself now and then," Rose said.

"I should really go now," Bruce said, dropping Rose's hand. Her words unsettled him. Was it really that easy to see right through his act? Was it really that easy to tell that all he ever did was bottle up his emotions? Was it really that easy to see how afraid he was of letting his emotions get the better of him?

Rose's shoulders drooped at Bruce's words, but she nodded. "Goodnight, Bruce."

Bruce didn't look back as he opened the bedroom door and stepped out. "Goodnight, Rose," he replied, disappearing down the hall as Rose's door swung shut.

* * *

Bruce opened his bedroom door and frowned, spotting Tony casually lounging on the bed.

"So," Tony said, smirking, "how'd it go with Rose?"

"Don't act like you don't know," Bruce replied, fighting desperately to keep himself under control. He knew for a fact now that Stark had been spying on them, and he was pissed.

"I want to hear it from you," Tony said.

"Get out of my room, Stark," Bruce growled, "or so help me God I won't hesitate to let the Hulk tear you to shreds!"

Stark held up his hands in surrender and stood from the bed. "Fine, I'm going, I'm going," he said, slipping past Bruce quickly, "…when you're calmer, be sure to tell me all about it."

"Get _out_!" Bruce exclaimed, slamming the door and collapsing into a heap on the floor, desperately fighting to stay in control.

"Not now…" he pleaded through gritted teeth, "…please…"

* * *

Rose, having easily heard the commotion next door, stepped out of her room to run directly into Tony. She glared at him.

"You've done it now, haven't you?" she spat.

"I was just having a little fun," Tony explained.

Rose didn't hesitate for a second. Before she could think, she'd slapped Stark as hard as she could across the cheek.

"Get your shit together, Stark," she warned, pushing him aside and hurrying to Bruce's room, not bothering to knock before slipping inside hurriedly.

Closing the door as she made her way inside, Rose nearly tripped over Bruce. He was lying in a heap on the floor, clearly struggling to keep himself under control. Rose knelt beside him and wrapped her arms around him from behind.

"Damn it, Stark," she muttered, hugging Bruce from behind.

"Rose…" Bruce whispered, "…you…need to go…"

"No," Rose replied, "I'm not leaving. I don't care if I'm in danger staying here with you, but I can't let anyone else get hurt because of Stark's carelessness."

Bruce continued to fight a losing battle, unable to win against the Hulk. Rose, seeing this, knew she had to think fast.

"Sit up," Rose ordered, struggling to lift him into a sitting position against the wall, "…come on, Bruce, you'll be okay, just sit up."

With a fair bit of difficulty, Rose helped Bruce to sit up against the wall. His eyes were squeezed shut and she couldn't tell if he was in pain or if it was just that hard to fight down the Hulk. She guessed both, but that wasn't the important thing right then.

"R-rose," Bruce gasped out, biting his lip, "…please go…I don't want…to hurt you…"

"You won't," Rose replied, leaning in and kissing him straight on the lips. Bruce's reaction was almost instantaneous. Rose felt his body relax, and a moment later the sensation of him pulling her into his lap, kissing her back. They sat there for a long moment before Bruce finally pulled away, covered in sweat but completely in control.

Rose smiled and brought a hand to Bruce's cheek, cupping it sweetly as she leaned in and kissed his forehead. "See? We're perfectly fine," she said, "both of us."

Bruce smiled and held Rose close, nuzzling his face into her hair. "Remind me to keep you around after all this Loki business is over," he said.

"It would be my pleasure," Rose replied.

Exhausted and relieved, the couple fell asleep right then and there in each other's comforting arms.

* * *

Bruce awoke midway through the night to discover himself on the floor by the door of his bedroom with Rose sleeping comfortably in his arms. Slowly, everything returned to him and he smiled, thanking the heavens that she'd come to his rescue. He felt rather stiff from sleeping against the wall and sighed a bit, reluctantly shaking Rose awake.

"Bruce?" Rose asked, somewhat disoriented.

Bruce gave her a smile and carefully removed her from his lap so he could stand. Then he knelt down and scooped her up in his arms, smiling a bit as she drowsily buried her face in his chest.

"It's okay, Bruce," Rose whispered, "I won't let you hurt anybody…"

Bruce smiled at those words and carried Rose to the bed, laying her down and crawling in beside her.

"Thank you," he whispered, slipping his arms around her waist and holding her close as he drifted off to sleep once more. He didn't deserve Rose, but he'd never been so grateful for anything in his life.


	5. Chapter 5

Bruce opened his eyes to the sound of a light knock on his bedroom door.

"Dr. Banner? Rose?" came the voice of Steve Rogers.

Bruce glanced down at Rose in his arms and smiled a bit. She was still sleeping soundly. He was reluctant to wake her, but did so anyway after another knock from Rogers. Her pretty green eyes fluttered open as Bruce released his hold on her and slipped out of bed. She caught sight of him as he headed for the bedroom door and the events of the previous night came back to her.

Bruce opened the door. "What's up?" he asked.

"We're having a meeting in five minutes," Steve answered, "I assume you'll want to be a part of it."

Bruce nodded and replied, "Yeah, thanks. We'll be there."

Steve nodded and turned, leaving as Bruce closed the door and began back towards the bed. Rose sat up and brushed her hair from her face as Bruce took a seat beside her on the bed. Without warning, he slipped his arms around her and pulled her close.

"Bruce?" Rose asked, surprised by his sudden action.

"How can I thank you for last night?" Bruce asked softly, stroking Rose's blue hair as if it was the most precious thing in the world.

Rose sighed and snuggled herself against him, noting that some of the seams of his shirt had been torn.

"You could start by changing your shirt," she said softly, "…this one's ripped at the seams…"

Bruce smiled and laughed a bit, kissing the top of Rose's head before letting go of her and standing to go to the closet.

"I guess I was farther gone than I thought," he said, unbuttoning his current shirt and taking a look at it briefly before tossing it aside and grabbing a new shirt from the closet, a long-sleeve, purple, button-up one. Bruce turned and smiled at Rose before shrugging it over his shoulders and beginning to do up the buttons.

Rose smiled a bit, watching him. "Does it…does it hurt when that happens?" she asked suddenly, "You looked like you were in pain when I found you…"

Bruce frowned a bit and was silent for a moment. Finally, he answered, "I guess. I'm never really paying any attention to that, though…"

Finishing with the buttons, Bruce looked to Rose and suggested, "Why don't you go change?"

Rose glanced down at her clothes and nodded a bit, noting how wrinkled they were. She shrugged. "I would," she answered, "but I didn't pack anything…"

"Ten bucks says Fury sent somebody to pick up your stuff from your place," Bruce said.

Rose raised an eyebrow at him, but finally nodded. "Alright," she said, standing and leaving the room.

* * *

Clad in a green tank top and a pair of purple skinny jeans, Rose joined the others in the living room. Before she took her seat beside Bruce, she fished a ten dollar bill out of her pocket and handed it to him. He smirked in amusement and pocketed the cash while everyone else just looked at the pair in confusion.

Tony sat across from Bruce and Rose, looking rather uncomfortable, his cheek bright red. Rose narrowed her eyes at him as Steve began to speak.

"Before we address the Loki business," he said, turning to look at Tony, "I believe Stark here has something to say."

"I'm not gonna say it," Tony muttered, looking down at the ground.

Rose glared daggers at him. She had a feeling that the 'something' Stark had to say was an apology that he was being forced into against his will and didn't actually mean. Before she knew exactly what she was doing, Rose was on her feet. She grabbed Stark by the ear and pulled him to his feet.

"OW!" Tony shouted, "Let go! That hurts!"

"I will," Rose said, "when you give Bruce and everyone else a heartfelt apology for last night."

"No," Tony said stubbornly, "…come on, please, let go!"

"Say it, Stark," Rose growled, "or you'll regret it."

"Ow…doubtful," Stark muttered.

Tony let out a cry of pain as Rose kneed him in the groin and dropped him back into his chair.

"Sorry now?" she asked, raising an eyebrow, not caring that everyone's eyes were on her.

Tony nodded, his eyes squeezed shut in pain. "Sorry," he said in a high-pitched voice.

Rose nodded and returned to her seat beside Bruce, satisfied that Tony wouldn't do something stupid like that again.

Rose's confidence quickly faded as she counted the pairs of eyes staring at her in astonishment. Bruce slipped his arm around her waist and pulled her close, easily sensing her discomfort.

"Someone care to fill me in on what the hell just happened?" Fury asked, stepping into view.

"How long have you been standing there?" Bruce asked.

"Long enough," Fury replied, offering no more information.

Rose frowned, glancing to Bruce. He gave her a slight nod of encouragement.

"Last night," Rose began, "Tony was eavesdropping on a very private conversation between Bruce and I. Bruce got pissed when he found out and nearly lost it. I heard everything and helped Bruce calm down. Then, well, you saw the rest. The red spot on Stark's cheek is from last night."

"I was on ice all night," Tony complained.

"Well, now you'll be on ice all day, too," Rose retorted.

"Can we get on with the meeting now?" Clint asked, "While I'll admit it is rather comical to watch Stark get beat up, that's not what this meeting is about."

Fury nodded. "You're right," he said. He paused a moment before beginning, "As far as we can tell, Loki's bought our story which means we can expect an attack on Earth within a few days. Without Thor, we're down a very valuable member, and Rose here has no combat training…"

"Wait…you're planning on having me fight?" Rose asked, "Sorry, but you said my only job was tracking him and learning his play…"

"Well, things have changed," Fury said, "and besides, I think you'll enjoy your new weapon."

Rose raised an eyebrow. "What makes you so sure?"

Fury smirked. "Why don't you come along and find out?"

"Come along where?"

"I'm guessing SHIELD's private weapons range," Clint said.

Rose sighed, hating herself for being so easily bought. She stood and said, "Fine, I'll come…on one condition."

Fury raised an eyebrow, prompting, "And that condition is?"

"Bruce comes along as well," Rose said.

Fury shrugged. "Fair enough," he said, turning to head for the elevator without another word.

Rose looked to Bruce and smiled a bit. "You coming?" she asked.

Bruce smiled back and stood, following Rose to the elevator and slipping inside with her and Fury.

"So much for an important meeting," Stark muttered as the elevator doors closed.

* * *

Fury led Rose and Bruce down the hall silently. He stopped outside a door and motioned to it. "Step in there and grab headphones and safety glasses. When you're ready," he said, pointing to a door a little ways further down the hall, "I'll meet you both in there."

Rose nodded, reaching for the door handle and instead grabbing Bruce's hand. Bruce turned the handle and opened the door, glancing down at Rose and smiling as he caught her blush. She pulled her hand away and slipped inside quickly, grabbing a pair of headphones and safety glasses for Bruce before grabbing a set of each for herself.

"I wonder what Fury's got for you," Bruce said, holding the door so Rose cloud slip out first.

Rose shrugged. "Let's go find out," she said, slipping out and smiling a bit towards Bruce before heading for the door Fury had directed them to go to. Reaching the door, Rose turned the handle and slipped inside, followed by Bruce. Fury was already there with what looked like an ordinary sniper rifle.

Rose slipped on her safety glasses and Bruce did the same as Rose went over to Fury. "This it?" she asked.

Fury gave Rose a nod. "Top of the line," he said, "your fingerprints are the safety."

Rose paused. "Wait…when did you get my fingerprints?" she asked, "Actually, nevermind, I don't want to know."

Fury nodded. "It's loaded," he said, "why don't you give it a try?" He motioned to the target at the back of the range, a good 25 yards away.

Rose smirked, slipping past Fury and putting on her headphones before picking up the rifle and aiming it at the target. There was no way she'd hit the bullseye from here, so she had to wonder if there was another surprise waiting for her when she shot it.

Bruce and Fury put on their own headphones. Bruce went to stand behind Rose, wondering what was so special about her new weapon.

Rose touched her finger to the trigger and the safety clicked off. Holding her breath, she pulled the trigger and a boom echoed through the range as the bullet connected with the target and exploded, leaving nothing but the smoking remains of paper. Rose laughed a bit and set down the rifle before removing her headphones and safety glasses and setting them beside the weapon.

"So?" Fury asked.

"That was fun," Rose answered, "I like it."

Bruce raised an eyebrow at Rose. "You're kind of sadistic, aren't you?"

Rose smirked a bit and shrugged as she replied, "Just a bit."


	6. Chapter 6

_"That was fun," Rose answered, "I like it."_

_Bruce raised an eyebrow at Rose. "You're kind of sadistic, aren't you?"_

_Rose smirked a bit and shrugged as she replied, "Just a bit."_

Fury cleared his throat, interrupting the couple. They both turned to face the director in unison.

"Now that you've seen your weapon," Fury said, "and tested it, I think it's time you got yourself a suit and began combat training. I can have Agent Romanoff train you at Stark Tower."

"Director," Bruce piped up, "…I think I might prefer it if I train her myself."

"And I think I might prefer it if you didn't destroy an entire building trying to teach your girlfriend how to defend herself," Fury said.

"I'm not going to destroy anything," Bruce said, "I've got everything under control."

Fury frowned and looked to Rose. "Your call, Hunter," he said, "I'm not going to be the one to deny Dr. Hulk here the right to training his girlfriend."

"Frankly," Rose said, "I think the best course of action is to allow both of them to help with my training."

Fury shrugged. "So be it," he said, "now, about your suit."

"I assume I need to provide that myself?" Rose asked.

"Actually," Fury said, "we had one made for you."

"You realize that if I don't like it, I'm not wearing it?"

Fury nodded. "You'll like it though," he said, "…if you like your rifle, you'll like your suit."

"Should I be excited about this or scared?" Bruce whispered into Rose's ear, eliciting a giggle from the blue-haired girl's lips.

Fury opened the door and slipped out, holding it for the pair, motioning for them to follow.

Bruce and Rose followed Fury down the hall quietly. Somewhat shyly, Bruce reached over and took Rose's hand. They turned to look at each other and smiled, Rose gently squeezing Bruce's hand. It was amazing how quickly they'd grown so close.

Fury led them to a room and slipped inside, going and pressing a button on the wall. As Rose and Bruce entered the room and the door shut, a door in the back of the room slid open to reveal Rose's suit on display. It was an all black suit composed of a tank top, a pair of skinny jeans, a pair of flat, nearly knee-high leather boots, and an ammo belt.

"I like it," Bruce said, realizing too late that he'd said that aloud. He shrugged it off, glad Tony wasn't there right then.

Rose laughed and nodded. "I like it too," she said.

Fury nodded. "Go ahead and take it," he said, "I'll have someone deliver the rifle and ammo later today. We're still doing some finishing touches on it."

Rose nodded, grabbing the clothes.

"There's a car out front waiting to take you back to Stark Tower," Fury said, turning to leave, "…try not to make a mess." With that, Fury was gone.

Bruce raised an eyebrow. "What do you think he meant by that?"

Rose shrugged. "I think he meant not to get too cozy in the car," she said, "…not like that was going to happen anyhow."

"You, um," Bruce said, "you want me to carry that?"

Rose shook her head. "I've got it," she said, "it's just clothes. Although, if I never need to move a suspension bridge, I'll let you know." She smirked at him, giggling a bit. Bruce rolled his eyes at her, but followed her out of the room and towards the exit.

* * *

Bruce slipped into the car after Rose and smiled towards her. Rose had set the clothes down on the floorboard and was sitting with her knees tucked up onto the seat beside her.

"You know, Rose," he said, "you're a bit of a tease."

Rose laughed. "Is that a problem?" she asked, reaching out and placing a hand on his cheek, smirking.

"Not at all," Bruce replied with a smile, slipping his arms around Rose and pulling her close, breathing in her scent. Bruce closed his eyes and relaxed as Rose buried her face in his muscular chest. It hadn't been more than a day since they'd met, but Rose was growing on Bruce, and vice versa.

* * *

Bruce listened to Rose's quiet breathing on the drive back to Stark Tower, one hand gently wandering her, admiring her. Had she swatted him away, he would have stopped immediately, but she never seemed to notice his wandering hand, so he let it continue wandering. She was a beautiful woman, he knew, and he loved having her in his arms, being able to say she was his. He wanted nothing more than to bond with her, to hold her, to protect her, to keep her for his own. He wasn't usually a greedy man, so he took that as a sign that the Hulk approved of Rose as well.

As the car slowed to a stop outside Stark Tower, Bruce gently shook Rose awake.

"Hey," he said softly, "we're here."

Rose's eyes fluttered open and she pulled back from Bruce, gazing up at him and smiling. She leaned up and kissed him on the cheek before grabbing her stuff. Bruce, somewhat embarrassed, opened the door and slipped out, offering Rose a hand so he could help her out of the car. Rose took Bruce's hand and slipped out, holding the clothes in her other arm and keeping a tight grip on Bruce's hand. Bruce smiled and squeezed Rose's hand, glad she didn't want to let go. He never wanted to let go of her.

* * *

Bruce and Rose emerged from the elevator and turned to make their way to Rose's bedroom, but were intercepted by Tony before they could get halfway there. He was holding an icepack over his package with one hand.

"Bruce, come on, spill," Tony said, "I wanna hear all about your little date."

"It wasn't a date, Stark," Bruce sighed, "we went to SHIELD's weapons range and picked up Rose's suit."

"And I tested out Fury's little surprise for me," Rose said.

"What was it?" Tony asked.

"You know what?" Rose said, "I'll show you later if you promise to behave."

Tony shrugged. "No promises," he said, turning and waddling away.

Rose bit her bottom lip to keep herself from giggling. She looked to Bruce and could tell he was trying just as hard as she was not to laugh at poor Tony. They quickly slipped into Rose's bedroom and closed the door, bursting into laughter the instant the door closed.

"I know I shouldn't be laughing at him," Bruce said, "but that was priceless."

Rose nodded her agreement, managing to calm herself after a minute. She went and placed her suit on top of her dresser. When she turned around with the intention of returning to Bruce's side, she found that he was standing right before her, grinning. She blushed a bright red and looked away, but Bruce reached a hand out and cupped her cheek, turning her head so he could look into her beautiful green eyes with his dark brown ones.

"Bruce?" Rose asked, not daring to break eye contact with him. She felt him slip an arm around her waist and pull her close.

Gently, Bruce brushed Rose's blue hair out of her face, his other arm keeping a firm grip on her waist. He smiled down at her, wanting to stay like this.

"Bruce?" Rose asked again.

"I…I just want to hold you," Bruce said softly, finally breaking eye contact and closing his eyes as he held her close, "…just for a little while."

Rose nodded and laid her head on his shoulder. "Okay," she whispered, slipping her arms around him.

They stayed like this for a long moment before, finally, Bruce pulled back. He smiled down at Rose and leaned in, planting a short, but passionate, kiss on her lips.

"Why don't you go talk to Natasha about starting your training?" Bruce asked, finally releasing Rose from his grasp and gazing down at her with a sweet smile on his face.

Rose gave Bruce a nod. "Yeah," she said, "…I'll see you later?"

Bruce smiled. "Sleep with me again tonight," he said, "I liked that."

Rose giggled. "Okay, Bruce," she said, smiling, "I will, if it makes you that happy."

Quietly, Rose headed for the door, opening it and glancing back at Bruce one last time before heading off down the hall. Bruce smiled to himself. He was starting to think he liked her a bit too much.


	7. Chapter 7

_**A/N:**__ Hey guys! Here's Chapter 7, so please follow, fave, and review! You too, lurkers, I know you're there…just like I know that my cat is sitting at the top of the stairs waiting to trip me on my way down. Bad kitty…_

* * *

It was early evening when Rose wandered out into the living room. She'd showered and changed into a pair of purple shorts and a green T-shirt sporting the phrase "Don't you think if I were wrong, I'd know it?". As she entered the room, Stark and Bruce looked away from the TV to greet her.

"Hey, Rose," Bruce said with a smile, sliding over so he would be sitting in the middle of the couch, between Tony and Rose. Rose smiled and took her seat beside Bruce, pausing as she noticed Tony staring at her.

"What are you looking at, Tony?" she asked with a hint of warning.

"I'm reading your shirt," Tony said, smirking a bit as he finished and continued, "I like it."

Rose rolled her eyes and replied, "Thanks."

Bruce smiled a bit and slid an arm around Rose's waist. She snuggled up to him, smiling back.

"You know," Bruce said, "I've got a theory as to why you two don't get along."

Rose raised an eyebrow. "You do?"

"He thinks it's because we're too much alike," Tony said.

Rose laughed. "Alike? Bruce, you didn't happen to hit your head on anything, did you? I don't believe you're thinking clearly at all."

Bruce laughed. "Think about it," he said, "you're both very smart and extremely stubborn and neither of you are afraid to speak your mind when you feel the need to."

"That's three things," Rose said, "I'm not going to consider that you have a point until I hear five reasons why we're so 'alike'."

Tony laughed and Bruce snickered a bit.

"Why are you laughing?" Rose asked.

"I said almost the exact same thing when he started explaining his little theory to me," Tony said, shaking his head in amusement.

Rose rolled her eyes but couldn't hide her amused smile. "Fine, then give me one last reason why we're alike."

"You're both kind of sadistic and enjoy destroying stuff," Bruce said.

Rose laughed. "I think that last one's more of a comparison between the Hulk and I, but you gave me five so I'll believe that theory of yours."

Bruce smiled and pulled Rose closer.

"Can I get either of you a drink?" Tony asked, standing, "Whiskey? Beer? Another Coke, Banner?"

Bruce nodded. "Thanks," he said, "…want anything, Rose?"

Rose shrugged. "You mix drinks much, Stark?" she asked.

Stark laughed a bit. "I hope you don't honestly believe that a man like me wouldn't know how to mix a proper drink," he said.

Laughing along with Stark, Rose said with a smirk, "I'll give you something easy."

"Is that supposed to be a joke?"

"What do you think?" Rose asked, rolling her eyes a bit at him as she said, "Hpnotiq and Hennessy, equal parts. You don't have to bother with any special glasses, I frankly don't care."

Stark laughed and nodded as he headed off towards the bar. "Two drinks, coming right up."

Bruce smiled, pulling Rose into his lap as Stark left to fix Rose's drink and refill Bruce's Coke. He gently kissed her cheek before whispering in her ear, "It was lonely in the lab today."

Rose giggled a bit. "You poor thing," she teased.

"How did training go with Romanoff?" Bruce asked, brushing some of Rose's strikingly blue hair behind her ear.

"Pretty good, I guess," Rose said, "I'm still pretty much useless in combat, but I'm better off than I was this morning."

"I thought you were pretty well off this morning," Bruce said, recalling the incident with Stark.

Rose rolled her eyes. "That's because he wasn't fighting back," she said.

Bruce shrugged. "And you're fearless," he said, "really, you're better off than most people are when it comes to combat."

"Fearless?" Rose asked, "What makes you say that?"

"You weren't afraid to slap Stark last night or knee him this morning," Bruce said, "but, most importantly, you weren't the slightest bit scared with me last night. I could have killed you, you know, and there's nothing I could have done about it." Saying this, Bruce tightened his grip on her.

Rose sighed. "Bruce," she said softly, "I don't honestly believe that you could ever bring yourself to hurt me, Hulk or human."

Stark returned with two glasses, one full of Coke and ice, and the other full of a bright green drink that was obviously Rose's. Rose moved to slip off of Bruce's lap, but he held her there, not wanting her to leave his lap.

"Just set my drink on the coffee table," Bruce said. Stark nodded and did so before hold Rose's drink out to her. She took it and quietly stole a sip from it.

"Thanks," she said, "…nice job."

"Is that a favorite drink of yours or were you just trying to be funny?" Tony asked, sitting back down on the couch and giving her a wink. Clearly, he already knew what the drink was called.

Rose shrugged and snuggled close to Bruce. "A little bit of both, I suppose," she answered.

"What do you mean, Stark?" Bruce asked.

Tony simply shrugged and smirked at Rose. "Look it up later and maybe you'll figure it out."

Bruce shook his head a bit and carefully moved Rose off of his lap so he could stand. "I think I'm going to turn in for the night," he said, grabbing his glass, "…will you be joining me, Rose?"

"Of course," she said, taking another sip of her drink before standing, "I promised I would, after all."

Bruce smiled and reached for Rose's free hand with his own.

"Well, how 'bout that?" Tony said, "The most unlikely pair: the Hunter and the Beast."

Rose rolled her eyes at Stark. "Goodnight, Tony," she said, "…no spying on us."

Tony sighed dramatically. "Fine," he muttered.

Bruce dropped Rose's hand and instead wrapped his arm around her waist, leading her away from the living room and towards his bedroom. Rose took a sip of her drink now and then, feeling a little bit tipsy, but not really caring. She kind of wanted to get drunk.

As they reached the bedroom, Bruce let go of Rose and opened the door, quietly ushering her inside and over to the bed. He set their drinks on the bedside table and leaned down, kissing Rose's forehead before heading for his closet to change into a different shirt and a pair of pajama pants. Rose, having downed a fair amount of her drink by this time already, smiled a bit as she watched him. She hoped Bruce wouldn't be able to tell how drunk she was. In her defense, though, it was a pretty potent drink…quite smashing, one might say.

Bruce unbuttoned his shirt and shrugged it off, grabbing a pale yellow T-shirt and slipping it on over his head. He glanced over at Rose briefly and noticed that she'd been watching him. Blushing slightly, he turned his face away and changed his pants quickly, slightly embarrassed by the fact that Rose had seen him in just his T-shirt and boxers.

Once dressed, Dr. Banner went to join the quite drunk Rose on the bed, pulling her into his lap. He glanced over at her glass and noticed that it was now only about a quarter of the way full.

"How did I not notice that you'd had that much to drink?" Bruce asked.

Rose shrugged. "You should go ahead and drink the rest," she said, giggling a bit as the thought of Bruce drunk crossed her mind, "…you know, so I don't."

Bruce sighed a bit and held Rose close, stroking her hair. "I'd really rather not," he said.

"Then I guess I'll drink the rest," Rose said, reaching for the glass. Bruce grabbed it before she could, however and downed it in one gulp.

"That's really strong," Bruce said, setting down Rose's empty glass and picking up his glass of soda, taking a drink. He really hated the fact that he'd let himself be persuaded to drink alcohol, but he didn't want Rose getting too drunk. He'd just have to grin and bear it and hope he could keep himself under control, even with his weakened senses.

Rose placed one hand on Bruce's shoulder and the other on his chest, gently stroking it. "You're really muscular," she said.

Bruce smiled a bit, watching her and keeping his arms around her. "You like that?" he asked.

Rose nodded and moved to snuggle herself against him, her head resting on his shoulder. "I do," she whispered, "I like everything about you."

Bruce smiled and carefully laid Rose down on the bed, laying down beside her and holding her close as he pulled up the blanket. Rose buried her face into his chest and snuggled against him, breathing in his scent as he held her. Bruce wanted to badly to make a move on her, but he just couldn't bring himself to take advantage of Rose in such a vulnerable position. Besides, he didn't even know if he'd be able to keep things under control anyhow, what with all the alcohol he'd downed for Rose's own sake. Sleep was the best option now. Bruce knew that there'd be a time to bond with Rose in every way he longed to sometime in the near future, but now was not the time.

Sweetly, Bruce kissed the top of Rose's head and whispered, "Sleep well." Was he…falling for her?


	8. Chapter 8

Rose awoke with a start in the early hours of the morning. Adrenaline was racing through her veins as she returned to reality, drenched in sweat and gasping for breath. She struggled to pull herself up into a sitting position as her body was shaking and Bruce's arms were still wrapped tightly around her. She wrenched herself free of his grasp, closing her eyes and trying to calm her pounding heart.

She remembered her dream vividly, but she wished she could forget…

* * *

_Loki smirked down at Rose, one hand gripping her shoulder with such force that she didn't dare try to remove it for fear of hurting herself._

"_Look at them," he purred in her ear, "your friends are fighting valiantly, but they will ultimately fail."_

_Rose couldn't tear her eyes away from the gruesome scene down below on the streets of New York. Loki's army wreaked havoc and the Avengers were fighting a losing battle._

"_The Earth will be mine," Loki said, "and there is nothing you or your friends can do to stop me."_

_As she watched one friend after another drop before her very eyes, Rose lost all sense of hope and collapsed to her knees as tears streaked her cheeks. How could this have happened?_

_Rose's tears blurred her vision and she hung her head, not noticing how Loki knelt beside her. He pressed the tip of his scepter to her heart and whispered, "When Artemis falls, so shall her army."_

* * *

Tears again came to Rose's eyes as she remembered her dream. Her skin burned where Loki's scepter had touched her, and she tucked her knees up to her chest, curling up into a ball and wrapping her arms around her legs. She cried softly into her knees. There was no doubt in her mind that Loki was toying with her, that the dream had been his doing. But why would he choose her? Did he know something she didn't? Was there some vital piece of the puzzle that she was missing?

Bruce's eyes slowly opened and he caught sight of Rose, having been awoken by her soft sobs. He sat up and slipped his arms around her, pulling her close and holding her. He wanted to ask what was wrong, but part of him was afraid. Rose was the bravest person he knew, and if something had her this frightened, he had a feeling he didn't want to know what it was.

It took quite some time for Rose to calm herself, but once the tears stopped, she snuggled herself close to Bruce and let him hold her. He gently stroked her hair, wishing he could take some of the pain and fear she was feeling himself. He would rather suffer himself than watch her suffer.

"Bruce," Rose whispered.

"Rose," Bruce whispered back, "just relax…everything's going to be fine."

"Bruce," she continued, "…it was Loki…"

Bruce sighed softly and tightened his grip on Rose protectively. He didn't dare probe for information. He wanted her to tell him when she was ready.

* * *

Time passed slowly for the rest of the night. Both Rose and Bruce remained awake. Rose was too afraid to sleep, and Bruce was too worried about Rose to think about anything but comforting her. Finally, though, the sun rose and little rays of light streamed through the window.

"'When Artemis falls, so shall her army'," Rose whispered, shaking her head, "what does it mean?"

"Rose?" Bruce asked.

It was then that after all that time Rose finally looked up at Bruce. Her bright green eyes glistened with unshed tears and her eyelids were swollen from all her crying.

"'When Artemis falls, so shall her army'," Rose repeated, a bit louder so Bruce could hear, "…that's what Loki said to me right before I woke up…"

"Artemis?" Bruce asked, "As in the goddess of the hunt?"

Rose's eyes widened at this and she quickly stood from the bed, using the sleeve of her shirt to quickly wipe her eyes as she headed for the bedroom door.

"Rose?" Bruce asked, standing and hurrying after her, placing a hand on her shoulder before she could slip out into the hallway, "What's going on?"

"Emergency meeting," Rose answered, "…wake the others. There's something I need to go check…"

Bruce looked at her quizzically, but let her go and watched her disappear down the hall. He shook his head with a sigh and followed orders.

Rose made her way to the living room, jumping slightly as the voice of Jarvis said to her, "Miss Hunter?"

Rose paused a moment, then replied, "Jarvis, do me a favor, will you? Set up a search for anything pertaining to Artemis, the goddess of the hunt."

"Is there anything specific you're looking for?" Jarvis asked as Rose made her way over to the computer screen near the bar.

"Anything about an army of some sort," Rose said, watching the screen as Jarvis sorted through tons of different articles.

"Is this what you're looking for?" Jarvis asked, pulling up a page on the screen. Rose began reading the page and her eyes widened.

"Yeah," she said, continuing to read, "…thanks."

"Rose?" Stark asked, making his way over. He was still wearing his pajamas and it was clear that he'd taken the words 'emergency meeting' very seriously.

Rose pried her attention away from the page and looked to Stark as the others slowly filed into the room.

"What's going on?" Stark asked her softly.

"A lot," Rose replied, seeing Bruce finally enter the room, bringing up the rear.

"What's so urgent?" Steve asked.

Nervously, Rose began, "I had a nightmare last night, which isn't something that usually happens. Loki was there and he had his hand on my shoulder. We were outside on the balcony and…and the rest of you were fighting his army…and losing. He was forcing me to watch the battle, telling me that there was no way we could win. I collapsed to my knees and started crying and that's when he knelt beside me and pressed his scepter to my heart and whispered, "When Artemis falls, so shall her army.""

Bruce watched Rose intently, noting the pain in her voice as he listened to her account of the nightmare.

"There's no doubt in my mind that Loki's playing tricks on me," Rose said, "trying to scare me. That in itself doesn't scare me. The fact that it's working does."

The room was silent for a moment and Rose sighed before continuing, "I think Loki knows something we don't, and I think it has to do with that last line."

"'When Artemis falls, so shall her army'," Natasha muttered.

"Artemis is the goddess of the hunt, right?" Stark said. Rose nodded and replied, "Yeah, and I had Jarvis do a search for me. Turns out, Artemis did have an army, a collection of loyal hunters who pledged their life to her."

"I think Loki was referring to you, Rose," Bruce said, "…last night Stark called you the Hunter."

"Then what's he trying to say?" Clint asked.

"He's trying to say that if Rose falls, we all will," Steve said. Everyone was silent for a long time before Natasha finally broke the spell, "But why is Rose so important?"

"I think I know," Stark said. Everyone turned to him and he waited a moment before continuing, "Think about it. What happens if Rose…let's use the word 'falls'?"

"We lose a soldier," Steve answered.

"We lose a vital part of the team," Natasha said, "…she's fearless, smart, and stubborn. She won't go down without a fight, I know that."

Bruce shook his head. "While both of those answers are right," he said, "I think the important thing to think about is what Loki has to gain from this…"

"If Loki plans to turn Rose like he did Barton once before," Stark said, "then I think I know exactly what he'll gain."

Bruce's eyes widened and he looked to Rose. "He…he wants to unleash the Hulk…" he said, "…he wants me to kill you."


	9. Chapter 9

_"If Loki plans to turn Rose like he did Barton once before," Stark said, "then I think I know exactly what he'll gain."_

_Bruce's eyes widened and he looked to Rose. "He…he wants to unleash the Hulk…" he said, "…he wants me to kill you."_

The room was silent. No one wanted to believe Bruce's words, but they all knew that he was right. They all knew that if the Hulk killed Rose, the team would fall apart from the inside and Loki would win.

"If that's his play, then we need to protect Rose," Natasha said.

"How can we plan to protect her when we don't even know when or where Loki and his army will arrive?" Steve asked.

"He's coming here, to Stark Tower," Rose said, "I'm certain. That's where we were in the dream."

"And if he's got that scepter, that means he's using the Tesseract to transport himself and his army," Clint said.

"So, he's coming here," Stark said, "with an army, and he's got the Tesseract. Déjà vu much?"

"But we don't have Thor this time," Natasha said.

"We could," Bruce replied, "…we could take the Tesseract from him and send someone to Asgard to free Thor."

"I'll do it," Clint said, "…I'll take the Tesseract and free Thor. The rest of you will need to stay here and fight. Rose can be your eye in the sky."

Steve gave a nod of approval. "When Loki comes, Clint goes to get Thor and Rose will get up high somewhere. The rest of us will be wherever we're needed."

"What about protecting Rose?" Bruce asked.

"If she needs help, she can tell us," Steve said, "until then, I get the feeling we'll need all the manpower we can get. Loki's army is likely a group of Asgardians who have been turned by that scepter of his."

"If we can free them from Loki's control, they'll likely join the battle on our side," Natasha said.

"And how do we free them?" Bruce asked.

"Cognitive recalibration," Natasha answered.

"Basically, just hit them really hard in the head," Clint explained.

Steve nodded. "No unnecessary harm comes to the Asgardians," he said, "…I don't think there's much more left for us to plan until Loki arrives. Anything else?"

Everyone was quiet, waiting for anyone to speak. Finally, Rose spoke up, "I think we're done here."

Natasha and Clint left the room and Steve headed down the hallway towards his room. Stark and Banner were the only two left with Rose.

Bruce went over to Rose and gently slipped his arms around her waist, holding her close.

"You know," Tony said, "if Loki wants the Hulk to kill Rose, it might be best for Hulk to become acquainted with Rose."

"He has a point, Bruce," Rose said softly, "if the Hulk knows me, you might be able to keep him from hurting me, even in a situation where I'm the bad guy."

"There's a flip-side to that too, you know," Bruce said, "if he's too protective of you…"

"Then you won't be able to free her from Loki's control," Tony said.

Bruce nodded. Rose sighed and said, "I still think that Tony's right. I'm sure you could bring yourself to do what's necessary, and, if not, I know someone else will be able to do it for you. I want to be sure that the Hulk knows who I am and why he needs to protect me."

Sighing, Bruce looked to Tony. "Can we borrow one of your cars? I don't want anyone to be with us."

Tony nodded. "Yeah," he said, "…but where are you going?"

"There's an abandoned warehouse not that far from here," Bruce said, "…that's the safest place for this."

"Take the Acura," Tony said, "the keys are in the glovebox."

"That's not a very conspicuous car," Bruce said.

"None of my cars are conspicuous," Tony said, "but that one's not bright red."

"Fair point," Bruce said, releasing Rose and adding, "Tony, take her downstairs to the car. I'll be down in a minute."

Tony nodded and motioned for Rose to follow as he headed for the elevator. Bruce turned and made his way down the hall towards his bedroom as Rose and Tony boarded the elevator silently.

"So…Artemis…" Tony said contemplatively.

"It's got a nice ring to it," Rose said.

"You're considering keeping it?" Tony asked.

"Well, yes," Rose replied, "…it's very fitting, is it not?"

"It's not that," Tony said, "I'm just wondering if you're really okay with calling yourself the same name Loki used to threaten us."

Rose shrugged. "It doesn't really bug me," she said, "I think you might be rubbing off on me a bit, Stark."

She and Tony laughed a bit as the elevator arrived. The doors opened and Tony and Rose stepped out into the garage. They made their way over to Tony's Acura.

"At least it's not red," Rose muttered, opening the glovebox and grabbing the keys. She began to make her way around the car to the driver's seat.

"Wait," Tony said, "are you driving? Do you even know where Bruce was planning to go?"

"I know exactly which warehouse he was talking about," Rose said, smirking, "…do you have a problem with me driving?"

"Well," Tony said, clearly trying to avoid saying it outright.

"I can drive a car, Stark," Rose said, "I'm not an idiot."

"But it's a very expensive car," Tony warned.

"You have money," Rose said, "you can buy a new one, but you won't have to because I won't break it. Trust me, Tony."

"Let her drive, Stark," Bruce said, making his way over to the car with a fresh set of clothes in one arm.

Tony pouted like a child, but nodded. "Fine," he said, "…don't crash it."

"Tony," Bruce warned, opening the passenger door.

"It's okay," Rose said, looking to Tony, "I promise it won't get so much as a scratch."

Tony nodded, took one last look at the car as if it would be the last time he saw it, then headed for the elevator. "Drive safe," he called back to Rose, slipping into the elevator and disappearing behind the doors.

Rose rolled her eyes a bit and opened the driver's side door, sliding into the car and starting it up. She buckled up and looked to Bruce. He buckled up and gave her a smile.

"You know where we're going?" Bruce asked.

"Yes," she said, shifting into reverse and pulling out of the spot before shifting to drive and driving out of the Stark Tower garage.

As she made her way out onto the streets of New York, Rose glanced at Bruce. He looked uncomfortable and nervous.

"Are you alright?" Rose asked, carefully balancing her attention between Bruce and the road.

Bruce sat there for a moment and didn't answer. Finally, he said, "I'm worried."

"Don't be," Rose said, "I know you won't hurt me."

"How can you know that when you've never seen…" Bruce trailed off, looking away.

"Because I know you," Rose said, "and I know that the Hulk is a part of you. You're not a monster and neither is he."

"What makes you so sure?" Bruce asked.

"Everyone else seems to trust you," Rose answered.

The rest of the ride was silent and when they arrived at the warehouse, Rose shut off the engine without a word. She looked to Bruce and they locked eyes inadvertently.

Bruce was the first to look away as he opened his door, grabbed the extra set of clothes, and climbed out of the car. Rose took the keys and stuffed them in the glovebox before following Bruce inside.

Rose closed the door once they were inside and made her way over to Bruce, hugging him from behind.

"Bruce," she whispered, "…you don't have to do this if you don't want to."

Bruce shook his head. "No, Tony has a point," he said, "…there's less of a chance that I'll hurt you if the Hulk knows you and wants to protect you."

Rose nodded and let go of Bruce, taking a step back as he turned to face her. "I'm pretty sure he already wants to protect me," she said, "…he is a part of you, after all. You're one and the same."

"I don't like to think of it that way," Bruce muttered.

"Well maybe you should," Rose replied, reaching for his hand and taking it in both of hers, "maybe that's the secret to controlling him."

Bruce didn't answer and looked down. After a moment, Rose let go of his hand.

"Whenever you're ready," she said softly.

Bruce didn't hesitate a moment longer and let the Hulk take over. His clothes were shredded during the transformation, but his pants stayed mostly intact. His skin turned a deep green and he doubled, nearly tripled, in size and stature. Rose chose not to watch and kept her face turned away.

When it was all over, the Hulk stood over Rose, staring down at her with his dark brown eyes, the very same shade as Bruce's eyes. Rose finally turned to look up at him and their eyes met in an instant; stunning green against that beautiful brown. The Hulk knelt down before Rose so they were eye-level with each other. Rose slowly smiled at him and reached out, placing a gentle hand on his cheek.

"See?" she said softly, "You won't hurt me…Bruce."

Hulk smiled just a bit and whispered possessively, "My Rose."


	10. Chapter 10

Hulk moved to sit on the floor of the warehouse and scooped Rose up in his arms, setting her in his lap. Rose giggled a bit and snuggled up to him, very happy.

"You're not a monster," she said softly, "you're my Bruce…"

Hulk smiled and his expression softened as he gazed down at Rose in his arms. He wanted nothing more than to protect her.

"Do you remember everything that happens when you're the Hulk?" Rose asked.

Hulk gave her a grunt of approval and a nod and Rose smiled a bit, placing a gentle hand on his muscular chest above his heart.

"Good," Rose whispered, "because I wanted to tell you that I love you…all of you, Bruce."

The Hulk stared down at her, disbelief shining in his eyes. "Rose…loves Hulk?"

Rose nodded. "Yes," she answered, "I love you."

Without another word, Hulk hugged Rose close. Rose slipped her arms around his neck the best she could and hugged him back, kissing his cheek.

"I just…I thought you should know that I don't just love you as Bruce," she whispered, "…I love everything about you, and I want you to know how much you mean to me."

They remained there in each other's arms for a long moment before Rose pulled back just a bit and leaned in, kissing him straight on the lips. Hulk kissed her back, keeping his arms wrapped around her, never wanting to let her go. Soon, what had started as a simple kiss grew into a deep, passionate one, one that neither wanted to end. After what felt like an eternity, Rose finally pulled back and found herself in Bruce's arms. Bruce seemed to register that he'd returned to his human form at the same moment Rose did, and he smiled.

"You love me?" he asked, refusing to let her go.

Rose nodded, returning his smile.

"I love you too," Bruce replied, "and I'll protect you with my life."

"I know you will," Rose said, pausing and glancing down at Bruce. He was wearing nothing but a pair of too big pants now. She giggled a bit and asked, "Do you want to get dressed?"

Bruce blushed slightly and nodded a bit. "That's probably a good idea, isn't it?" he said with a laugh, reluctantly releasing Rose from his grasp. He felt like a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders. Hearing how Rose truly felt about him made him feel so…so free. Maybe she was right; maybe he needed to embrace the Hulk as a part of himself. He knew it couldn't be too hard, not while Rose was there to help him.

Rose stood and turned away. "Go ahead and change," she said, "I won't look."

"Thanks," Bruce said, quickly sliding off his tattered pants and tugging on the fresh set of clothes he'd brought. When he was done, he stood and went to Rose, wrapping his arms around her waist from behind.

"You ready to go?" he asked.

"Yeah," Rose said, blushing a bit, "…you want to drive?"

Bruce shook his head. "You drive," he said, "you seem to enjoy it."

Rose nodded and slipped out of Bruce's arms, turning around and planting a kiss on his cheek before heading for the exit. Bruce remained close behind her as they left the warehouse.

* * *

Rose put the keys back in the glovebox before slipping out of the car and heading with Bruce to the elevator. As they slipped inside, Bruce punched in the code for Tony's penthouse. They stood there in silence for a moment before Bruce suddenly pushed the stop button, halting the elevator's ascent. In an instant he had pushed Rose against the wall and was kissing her passionately as his arms snaked around her waist. Rose, so utterly surprised by Bruce's sudden actions, stood there dumbly for a moment as he kissed her before her brain finally registered what was going on. She slid her arms around his neck and kissed him back adoringly.

Bruce groaned softly into their kiss, pressing his body against hers as his hands moved to cup her ass. Rose closed her eyes, relaxing at the sensation of his touch.

"Bruce," Rose breathed between kisses. At the sound of Rose's voice, Bruce pulled back from the kiss and gazed into her eyes.

Suddenly, the elevator jolted back to life and continued its way up. Startled, Bruce released Rose and stepped away from her, blushing. Rose could still feel the heat of his kisses on her lips as they elevator doors opened and they stepped out into the living room. Everyone was gathered in the living room. Natasha and Clint had suited up and Steve wore his uniform, minus the hood. Stark was the only one who wasn't in his suit, likely since it was made of metal and he didn't need more than a few seconds to suit up anyhow.

"What's going on?" Rose asked.

"Doc's computers went haywire about half an hour ago," Stark said, "…we're expecting a portal to open any minute now. I'd suggest you suit up and get a rain check on that make-out session."

Rose shot Tony a glare, but hurried down the hall to her room, disappearing inside.

"If the computers detected something a half hour ago," Bruce said, "then why isn't anything here yet? When Loki opened that portal of his last time it took less than a minute. If he's opening a portal, then what's taking so long?"

Rose, having changed in record time, slipped into the living room, her rifle strapped to her back and extra ammo on her belt.

"We don't have a damn clue," Clint said, "but nonetheless, we need to be prepared for anything."

"I agree," Steve said, "…Stark, suit up."

Tony nodded and left the room quickly.

"What should we do while we wait?" Bruce asked.

"I don't know about the rest of you," Rose said, "but I'm heading to the roof. I'll be able to see the portal from there once it opens."

"Barton?" Steve asked.

"I'll stick with Rose," Clint replied, "after all, I need to be as close to the portal as possible so I can go through and find Thor."

Steve nodded, pausing a moment as Tony made his way into the room wearing the full suit, save for the helmet which was in his hand.

"Then the rest of us will go wherever we're needed," Steve decided.

"You tell us if you're in trouble, Rose," Bruce said.

Rose nodded and went over to Bruce, hugging him briefly. "Stay safe," she whispered.

"That's my line," Bruce teased, smiling a bit down at Rose as she pulled away. Reluctantly, Rose tore herself away from Bruce and left with Clint, leaving Stark, Natasha, Captain Rogers, and Bruce alone in the living room.

"I take it everything went well?" Tony asked, looking to Bruce.

"Yeah, it did," Bruce said, "…and I swear, if you were eavesdropping on us…"

Tony held his hands up in surrender. "I wasn't," he said, "we were having a meeting and Jarvis told us you two were in the elevator. I assumed the making out part."

"You assumed?" Bruce said, raising an eyebrow.

"Was I wrong?" Tony asked, "You didn't do it in my elevator, did you?"

"Enough, boys," Natasha said, "…Loki's coming and we need to stay focused."

"Right, sorry," Tony said, sighing, "let's hope this goes according to plan."

"Nothing ever goes according to plan where we're involved," Bruce muttered.


	11. Chapter 11

_**A/N:**__ So I'm watching The Avengers (for like, the fiftieth time) and I'm just sitting there enjoying myself, admiring all the sexy men (yes, even Fury…gotta love a man with an eyepatch), and here comes the scene immediately after Loki's conversation with Fury. So I laugh at the appropriate times (I was alone in the house so I ended up laughing my ass off) like Banner's 'bag full of cats' line, Thor's 'he's adopted' line, Stark's "That man is playing Galaga' line, and all the rest. Then, here comes Fury's line:_

"_I want to know how he used it to turn two of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys."_

_Thor says: "Monkeys. I do not understand."_

_Captain: "I do."_

_Stark's in the background next to Banner rolling his eyes as Steve continues: "I understood that reference."_

_And, finally we get to the whole point of this rant…Stark says to Banner:_

"_Shall we play, Doctor?"_

_And I just sit there for a moment, then burst into laughter before saying in a sing-songy voice to myself "I smell a fanfiction!"_

_And it gets worse because not that much later, Stark pokes Banner with whatever the heck that thing was and Banner says to Steve: "It's alright. I wouldn't have come aboard if I couldn't handle…pointy things…"_

_Seriously, the whole damn movie is just SCREAMING Stanner fanfiction!_

_Just thought I should get that out there. Anyhow, here's the chapter._

* * *

Rose and Clint made their way out onto the rooftop in the nick of time or at the worst possible moment, depending on your point of view. A large portal opened facing the pair and they tensed, Clint nocking an arrow and Rose removing her rifle from where it was slung around her back and loading it, aiming it directly at the portal.

"Stark, come in," Clint said.

"What?" Stark asked.

"The portal's here," Clint said, "…brace yourselves."

The very first thing to emerge from the portal was Loki, glad in his usual over-the-top ensemble, his scepter in one hand, and the Tesseract in the other. It was clear, even to Rose who had little to no knowledge of the Tesseract, that Loki had learned much about the cube…far too much.

"My, my," Loki drawled, "what have we here? They send the Hawk and his mistress to welcome me?"

Rose glared at Loki, her finger on the trigger of the rifle. Oh, she wanted to shoot right then and there, but she knew it was foolish to do so just yet.

"Drop the scepter and hand over the Tesseract and no one gets hurt," Clint said.

"And if I refuse?" Loki asked.

"Captain Rogers, Stark, Natasha, and Bruce are barely three floors below," Rose said, "you make one wrong move and we'll be eating Loki Stew for dinner."

Loki laughed. "Clever as always, _Artemis_," he spat.

Rose didn't hesitate another minute and pulled the trigger, sending a bullet straight for Loki. The Asgardian dodged easily, but the bullet still clipped his shoulder before flying through the portal and exploding, eliciting a cry of anger from the other side.

Rose's eyes widened as she realized that she'd been played. That had been the plan, to anger Loki's brainwashed army.

"Shit," Rose muttered, backing up with Clint as Asgardians filed out of the portal, one after the other, their eyes glowing a bright blue full of hatred and anger.

"Captain, we've got a problem," Clint said.

"How bad is it?" Steve asked.

"Bad," Rose said, "…draw the army away from the roof." As she said this, Rose looked up and noticed that Loki had hitched a ride with one of his servants and was no longer within reach.

"And find a way to get Loki back to the tower," Rose added, "he has the Tesseract."

* * *

The battle raged on down on the streets of New York between Loki's enslaved Asgardian army and the rest of the team, save for Rose. She had remained behind at the tower and stood out on the balcony, calling out information and shooting down whatever she could, which was quite a bit, actually. The team had taken on a hurt but don't kill policy towards the army in hopes of gaining reinforcements later on, but so far it wasn't helping.

"Rose, where's Loki?" Clint asked.

"He's all over the place, Barton," Rose answered, "what do you want me to say? By the time you make it to wherever he was, he'll be gone."

"Tell me where he is," Stark said, "I'll lead him to Barton."

"6th street," Rose replied, "watch out for that stupid scepter of his."

"Barton," Stark said, "meet me at the Empire State Building, I'll lead Loki there."

Rose watched from afar as Tony managed to lead Loki to the Empire State Building. He and Barton could manage nothing more than acquiring the Tesseract.

"I've got the cube," Barton said.

"Then get up here," Rose replied, "and be snappy about it. We need Thor's help."

* * *

"Hold down the fort, Rose," Barton said, "I'll be back." With that, he slipped through the portal.

Rose nodded to herself. "Yeah," she whispered, "I'll do that."

"Hunter," Steve said, "we need you on the ground."

"I'm a little busy here, Captain," Rose replied, firing and shooting down another of Loki's minions.

"Busy indeed."

Rose turned around in an instant to find Loki making his way out onto the balcony.

"You know," Loki said, smirking as he drew ever nearer, "snooping around in places you don't belong isn't exactly nice."

"I'm not exactly a nice person," Rose spat.

Loki laughed. "What exactly are you hoping to accomplish?" he asked, "You cannot defeat me on your own, _Rose_, and you've got no one to come to your rescue. My army will keep them busy…"

Rose was frozen on the spot as Loki stood before her. She had no way to escape as Loki reached his hand out and gripped her shoulder violently.

"Your friends are fighting valiantly," he purred, "but they will ultimately fail."

Rose, recalling those same words from her dream, refused to look down at the streets where the others fought. She knew she couldn't bear to see such a scene.

"The Earth will be mine," Loki growled, "and there is nothing you or your friends can do to stop me."

Rose narrowed her eyes, taking in a deep breath before turning on a dime and kneeing Loki where it would could. The god collapsed in pain and Rose took that opportunity to send a message.

"Bruce," she said, "…if you're looking for something to smash, I've got just the thing."

Rose kicked Loki's scepter away and knelt down beside him as he writhed in pain.

"There's one thing you should know about Artemis," Rose said, "she will never back down."

With that, Rose stood and went to the scepter, picking it up. Just as she did, Thor and Clint burst through the portal and tumbled down to the balcony. Thor was the first to regain his composure. He stood and watched as Loki struggled to his feet.

"Thor," Rose said, watching as the thunder god turned to look at her, "…get rid of this blasted thing, will you?" She tossed him the scepter and he caught it. Rose gave Clint a hand and helped him stand. There they were on the balcony, Thor, Clint, and Rose standing before Loki, who was still cupping the family jewels.

Everyone nearly had a heart attack as the Hulk landed. The entire building shook and he looked over at Rose, as if apologizing for startling her. Then, Loki, who was trying desperately to find a way to escape, was flung through the window with such force that he was unconscious by the time he landed on the floor of the apartment. Thor broke the scepter in half over his knee and the battle ended as quickly as it had begun as the Asgardians suddenly remembered who they were and what had happened. They hurriedly retreated through the portal as fast as they could as Stark, Natasha, and Captain Rogers made their way to the tower.

Clint and Thor made their way inside while Rose and the Hulk remained out on the balcony. Rose smiled up at the Hulk and reached for his hand with both of hers, taking it and holding it. Hulk smiled down at Rose. He couldn't have been happier than he was right then, knowing that Rose was safe and that all this craziness was over with. Slowly, Hulk knelt down before Rose so they were eye level with each other and pulled her into a hug.

"Rose," he whispered, his deep voice so full of adoration for the woman in his arms. He didn't want to think about what might have happened if Loki had turned Rose. He just wanted to hold her, to feel her, to protect her.

"Hunter, Banner," came Stark's voice, "get inside. We've still got Loki to deal with."


	12. Chapter 12

_**A/N:**__ This is the chapter where the M rating finally comes into play. Read at your own risk!_

* * *

Rose dropped Hulk's hand at the sound of Tony's voice.

"You heard him," she said, looking to Hulk apologetically. The Hulk gave Rose a grunt and followed her inside, annoyed that they'd been interrupted.

The pair made their way over to the others. Thor had propped Loki up into a sitting position against the wall and was standing by, waiting for him to wake up.

"He's out like a light," Rose said. The Hulk let out a laugh, though it was really more of a grunt than anything. Rose smiled a bit at that and reached for Hulk's hand, taking it in her own.

"What do we do with him when he wakes up?" Natasha asked.

"He will return to Asgard," Thor said, "…without his scepter he will have no means of forming another army."

"You sure he won't escape again?" Captain asked.

"He might escape," Thor said, "but he will not find his way here again. The Tesseract will remain with me and I will have him under constant surveillance. Do not worry."

Steve nodded as Loki's eyes slowly opened. Loki, finding himself surrounded, realized he had lost and sighed. Thor helped Loki to his feet and looked to Clint.

"The Tesseract," he said to Clint, holding out the hand that wasn't holding Loki steady.

Clint nodded and handed the cube to Thor.

* * *

Everyone followed Thor and Loki into the elevator, save for Rose and the Hulk. The elevator was already full, and the Hulk wouldn't fit anyhow. Rose turned to look at Hulk as the elevator doors closed, planning to ask him if he just wanted to climb up to the roof, but she never got the chance. Hulk knelt down before Rose and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close and kissing her passionately, ferociously. Rose had no idea how to respond.

Rose wrapped her arms around the Hulk's neck, pulling back from the kiss in surprise as she felt him lift her up in his arms. She clung tightly to his neck, wondering what he was planning.

"Bruce?" she asked softly, snuggling her face into his big, green chest. The Hulk grunted in response and Rose continued, "What are you doing?"

Hulk shrugged slightly and made his way down the hall, keeping Rose guessing.

When they arrived at their destination, the Hulk turned the doorknob and carefully made his way inside, closing the door with his foot. Rose lifted her head and found herself in Bruce's bedroom. She looked up at the Hulk as he made his way over to the bed and carefully laid her down upon it.

"Bruce?" Rose asked again. The Hulk didn't answer as he climbed atop her and leaned down, kissing her fiercely. In the heat and passion of their kiss, Rose didn't notice as Hulk began to undress her. He was careful not to rip her clothes as he tugged her pants off and then began to pull her tank top over her head, releasing her from the kiss for only the slightest moment. Suddenly registering what was going on, Rose placed her hands on the Hulk's chest and tried to push him away.

The Hulk pulled back from the kiss and looked down at Rose in confusion. Rose frowned a bit and said softly, "Are you sure you want to do this?" The Hulk didn't even hesitate as he nodded eagerly. Rose wanted to protest, she wanted to tell him that she wasn't ready, but she couldn't bring herself to say so.

Hulk grabbed Rose's hands and brought them down to his pants, silently urging her to remove them. When Rose made no move to slide his pants down, Hulk helped her, keeping his hands over hers as they pulled his pants off together. Rose didn't want to say it, but she was scared, she wasn't ready for anything like this.

Now lying nude atop Rose, the Hulk pulled his darling little woman into another kiss, his hands snaking around and fumbling with the clip of her bra until it came undone. He was determined to have her right there and right then.

Rose continued kissing the Hulk, fighting back tears. She wanted to tell him that she wasn't ready, but she didn't want to hurt or upset him. She loved him, and she didn't want to disappoint him. As Hulk slid her panties off, though, a tear escaped and trailed down her cheek. When Hulk pulled back to admire his handiwork, a pained look crossed his face. Rose was…crying?

"Rose?" Hulk asked, clearly surprised and confused by this.

Rose slid her arms around Hulk's neck, pulling him close so she could bury her face in his chest. "I'm not ready for this," she whispered, "…I didn't want to disappoint you."

Hulk closed his eyes and wrapped his arms around Rose, holding her close as she began to softly sob into his chest. He didn't even notice that he'd changed back to his human form.

"I love you, Bruce," Rose whispered, "…I-I'm sorry…"

"Don't apologize," Bruce whispered, "I understand…I'm the one who should be apologizing."

Rose, surprised to hear Bruce's voice, pulled away from him and looked up into his eyes. She smiled just a bit.

"It's okay," she said softly, "…we're already here…"

"No," Bruce said, "if you don't want this, I won't do it."

"Bruce," Rose whispered, "it's alright…if you want this, and I know you do, then I'll be okay."

"Are you sure?" Bruce asked.

"Yes, Bruce," Rose answered, "I love you and I trust you…it was just a shock how quickly you initiated it, that's all…"

"I'm sorry," Bruce said.

"Quit apologizing," Rose said, "we're on the clock here…the others will be back soon…"

Bruce nodded, leaning down and kissing her sweetly as he spread her legs with his knee. Rose moved her arms so they were wrapped around his shoulders. Bruce pulled back from the kiss and gazed adoringly into Rose's eyes as he slowly slid his way into her.

"Bruce," Rose breathed, closing her eyes once he was fully immersed in her. Bruce let out a soft groan, leaning down and trailing kisses down Rose's neck and shoulders, pulling out just as slowly as he had gone in before starting the whole process again, a bit faster this time.

Rose moaned out, tightening her grip on Bruce's shoulders. She'd never felt like this before, so exposed, yet so safe. Bruce took her lips in his own, thrusting his tongue into her mouth and exploring. As each of their climaxes grew ever closer each began to moan louder and move faster.

"My Rose," Bruce purred possessively. Rose could do nothing but moan beneath him as he thrust in an out of her ferociously. Finally, Rose reached her peak and let out a soft cry of pained pleasure as she closed her eyes and relaxed into the bed. Bruce joined her in sweet release not a moment later, moaning out her name as he came.

Slowly they returned to reality and Bruce pulled out, moving to lay beside Rose. They were both breathing heavily, exhausted.

"Wow," Rose whispered.

Bruce reached over and slid an arm around Rose, pulling her close and smiling down at her.

"You truly are a blessing, Rose," he whispered, "…that's the first time since the accident that I've had sex…"

Rose snuggled up to Bruce, placing a gentle hand on his chest. "That was my first time, period," she replied, "…and it was wonderful, Bruce…"

"Rose," Bruce whispered, "I love you. No one's ever loved me like you do…"

"I love all of you," Rose said, "every part of you…"

"I know," Bruce replied, "…you're the only one who does, and you're my savior."


	13. Chapter 13

Rose snuggled close to Bruce, smiling and closing her eyes, so very happy to be in his arms right then. It wasn't until they heard voices down the hall that they realized they were not the only two people in the world.

"We should get dressed," Bruce said, reluctantly releasing Rose and moving to stand from the bed. Rose sighed, watching him stand before doing the same. She gathered her clothes from the floor and blushed a bit as she caught Bruce staring at her.

"Get dressed, Bruce," she said, "please, it's embarrassing having you staring at me like that."

Bruce blushed a bit and turned away, heading for the closet and muttering an apology. Rose slid on her bra and panties before tossing on her shirt and pulling on her pants. By the time she was dressed, Bruce was just beginning to button up a nice pale blue shirt.

"You look nice in blue," Rose said, smiling and brushing some of her blue hair from her face.

Bruce smirked back and replied, "Of course I do."

Rose rolled her eyes slightly and reached for his hand once he'd finished buttoning up the shirt. Bruce took Rose's hand and headed for the bedroom door, opening it and leading Rose down the hallway towards the living room.

When they arrived, Bruce and Rose found the others seated here and there around the room. Tony was the first to notice them as they entered.

"My, my, what have we here?" he said with a smirk.

"Please don't, Tony," Bruce said.

"Oh my god," Tony said, "so you did it?"

"I never said that," Bruce said, leading Rose over to the couch and sitting before pulling her into his lap.

"It's written all over your face," Tony replied, "…so how was it?"

"I am not going to talk about this, Tony," Bruce said.

"Later, then?" Tony asked, smirking.

Bruce sighed. "I'll think about it, if that'll shut you up."

Tony nodded, looking to Rose. "I don't suppose you'll go ahead and tell me all about it either?"

Rose quickly shook her head. "You do not need to know what goes on between Bruce and I behind closed doors."

Tony held his hands up in surrender. "Fine, if that's how you want to be…"

"Sir," Jarvis said, "the media is downstairs. They want a statement from the Avengers."

Natasha frowned at this news and everyone looked around at each other. No one wanted to face the media.

"Why don't we just send Stark down and have him deal with this?" Clint asked.

"No," Tony said, shaking his head, "I'm not going down there, especially not alone."

"Then what do we do?" Bruce asked, "They won't leave until they get something."

"Why don't we just give them what they want?" Rose asked, "Where's the harm?"

Everyone looked at her like she was crazy. Rather uncomfortable, Rose snuggled herself close to Bruce, blushing slightly.

"Oh, what the hell?" Tony said, standing, "Might as well get rid of them. Let's just all go down there and get this over with."

"You sure about this, Stark?" Steve asked, raising an eyebrow.

Tony just shrugged. Rose glanced at Bruce, then kissed his cheek and stood.

"I'm up for it," she said.

"I suppose it can't do any harm," Bruce said, standing as well and slipping his arm around Rose's waist.

Steve sighed. "Fine," he said, "I'll go too."

"Barton? Romanoff?" Stark asked.

For a moment the room was silent. Finally, though, Natasha and Clint stood. Stark smiled a bit and began towards the elevator, everyone else following right behind him. As they all climbed into the elevator, Bruce refused to let go of Rose's waist. Stark noticed this and said to them, his voice low, "Are you sure you want the media seeing the two of you?"

"I'd rather not have rumors spreading," Rose said, "I think it's best to set things straight off the bat. Don't tell me that you want the media saying that you and I are dating, Tony."

Tony quickly shook his head, smiling just a little bit. "You're right," he said, "I've got Pepper. I don't want that."

Bruce smiled a bit, leaning down and kissing Rose's forehead. "Won't we have to introduce Rose as our newest member?" he asked, looking to Tony.

"Oh, yeah, we will," Tony said, "…you don't have a name yet, though."

Rose smirked a bit. "Actually," she said, "I think I have just the solution to that…"

"What are you going to call yourself?" Tony asked.

"You'll find out soon enough," Rose said, giggling just a bit and leaning into Bruce as the elevator doors opened. Steve, Natasha and Clint were the first ones out, followed by Tony. Bruce and Rose took up the rear as the group made their way outside to the crowd of reporters. The reporters swarmed around them, but when Stark spoke up and asked them to back up and give some space, they quickly obeyed. It was amazing how much power money gave someone.

"Mr. Stark," said one reporter, "can we have an official statement as to what happened?"

Stark shrugged and responded, "There isn't much to say."

Rose fought back a giggle at Tony's answer. "So much for a statement," she muttered to Bruce. Bruce smiled a bit at her words, tightening his grip on her waist.

"Who should be held responsible for the damage caused to the city?" asked another reporter.

"We are not responsible for this mess," Tony said, dodging the question expertly as he continued, "but I am willing to help fund clean-up operations."

"Who's that girl?"

Tony smiled a bit and looked back towards Rose. "Care to introduce yourself?" he asked, motioning for her to come forward.

Bruce smiled down at Rose and nodded, releasing her and watching as she made her way over to Tony. Tony moved to slip his arm around Rose's shoulders, but Rose reached over and grabbed his hand, removing it from her shoulder and dropping it back down to his side. A few snickers were heard from the crowd of reporters.

"Got anything to say about yourself?" Tony asked, smirking at Rose, unfazed by her actions.

Rose rolled her eyes a bit at Tony and looked out into the crowd of reporters. She took a short moment to gather her words and smiled only slightly as she began.

"I'm the newest member of The Avengers," she said, "…call me Artemis."

Bruce laughed slightly to himself and smiled. He was so proud to know she was his right then.

"What's your real name?" a reporter exclaimed.

"Sorry," Rose said, "I'm not Tony Stark. I don't need the publicity so I won't be revealing my name."

"Hey!" Tony said.

Rose rolled her eyes. "Oh, grow up, Tony."

Bruce slid his arms around Rose from behind and pulled her close. Rose blushed a bright red, surprised.

"Frankly," Tony said, "I think you should be saying that to Dr. Banner instead."

"Are the two of you a couple?"

"Oh yeah, they are," Tony said, smirking, "they just totally had a fu-"

"Don't you dare, Tony," Rose growled. Bruce smiled a bit, glad Rose was around to get angry so he didn't have to.

"Any other questions regarding this afternoon's events?" Steve asked, clearly annoyed with how easily the media moved from one topic to another.

"Doesn't matter," Tony said, "I'm done." He looked to the crowd and motioned for them to leave and, reluctantly, they began to file out. Tony got the door and everyone slipped back inside the tower.

"I swear to God, Tony," Rose said, glaring daggers at him.

"What? I can't tease you?" Tony asked.

"Not in public," Rose replied, "and especially not around the media."

Bruce just couldn't help but laugh, holding Rose close to him. "You really have no idea how wonderful you are, Rose," he said. Sure, he was upset that Tony had tried to tell the media about their private life, but just watching the way Rose blew up at him was enough to calm the beast inside.

Tony smirked. "Anyhow," he said, "shall we celebrate?"


	14. Chapter 14

_**A/N:**__ I just have to get this out in the open: Bruce and Rose are an adorable couple. Seriously, I love them far more than I should. I mean, literally, I'd cry if I had to write a break-up for them…_

_Also, fair warning, there's a sex scene near the end…it'll be continued in the next chapter…_

* * *

The group made their way back upstairs and Tony poured everyone a glass of champagne. Well, everyone except Bruce who took a glass of soda instead. Rose wanted to tell him to let loose and have a little fun with them, but she just couldn't bring herself to do so.

"Cheers," Tony said, raising his glass, "to us!" Everyone clinked glasses, overjoyed that this whole Loki business was over with.

The group remained at the tower until about nine o'clock that night, drinking and having a good time. Finally though, things died down and Natasha and Clint decided that it was time to go.

"You sure you don't want to stay here in the tower?" Tony asked.

"Positive," Natasha said, "no offense to you guys or anything. It's just easier for us if we aren't holed up here."

Tony shrugged and watched as they left, looking around at everyone who remained. Steve, Bruce, Rose, and Tony were the only ones left.

"Is it safe to assume you're all going to stay here?" Tony asked.

"I'm staying with Bruce," Rose said, "if he wants to stay here, then I will too."

"Of course I'm staying," Bruce said, "all my work is here. Besides, it's nice to actually be safe from everyone who's trying to experiment on me for once."

Tony smiled and looked to Steve. Rogers just shrugged. "I've got no reason to leave," he said. It was obvious that Tony was extremely happy about this.

Moving to lounge on a chair, Tony glanced over at Bruce and Rose. "Can I have the dirty details now?"

"Honestly, Tony," Bruce said, "is it really necessary that you hear about my sex life?"

"Well, yes," Tony said, smirking, "considering the fact that you didn't have one until a few hours ago."

"I think I'll just head to bed," Steve said, standing and leaving the room, clearly uncomfortable.

Once Steve was gone from the room, Tony stood and moved over to the couch, sitting beside Bruce. Rose frowned a bit from her perch upon Bruce's lap.

"If you're not going to tell me," Tony said, "…then are you willing to compromise with a threesome?"

"Hell no, Tony," Rose said immediately, "you've got a girlfriend."

Tony laughed. "You're damn stubborn, as always," he said, shrugging and standing, heading over to the bar to pour himself another drink.

"She has a point, though, Tony," Bruce said, "you do have a girlfriend…and I can promise you that the Other Guy wouldn't let you so much as touch Rose anyhow. She's all mine, you got that?"

"Oh, trust me," Tony said, "I've got it."

Rose giggled and turned in Bruce's lap so she was straddling him. "You know," she purred softly, "it's a huge turn on when you get all possessive like that."

Bruce grinned and placed his hands on Rose's hips, holding her in place. "Good," he whispered, leaning in and kissing her passionately, thrusting one hand into her hair. He felt Rose wrap her arms around him and smiled into the kiss.

Tony returned to his chair with a new drink and cleared his throat. Bruce and Rose pulled apart, Rose blushing and Bruce slightly annoyed at being interrupted.

"By all means, continue," Tony said, "I just wanted you to know I was watching."

"The hell is your deal?" Rose asked.

Bruce shrugged. He knew he was acting more upon his impulses right now and refusing to think rationally, but he didn't really care. All he cared about was the fact that he really wanted to kiss Rose.

"Let him watch," Bruce said, holding Rose close, "I don't have a problem…and neither does the Other Guy. Maybe he'll quit pestering us if he gets to see us make out."

Rose, a little uncomfortable being watched by Tony, sighed a bit and nodded. "You do have a point," she said softly. Before she could say anything else, Bruce had taken her lips in his own once more. She felt his tongue force its way into her mouth and begin to explore and she tightened her grip on him, letting him do as he wished. Continuing to kiss him adoringly, Rose let her hands wander to his shirt and unbuttoned the top three buttons so she could explore his chest.

Tony sat in his chair, watching the scene play out and wishing he had some popcorn. This was beyond hot. Part of him kind of wished he was the one kissing Bruce, but he shook the thought away. He had Pepper, and he'd have his fun with her later. She was coming over tomorrow, wasn't she? Yeah, he remembered that she'd said she had a few days to spare and that she would be spending them at the tower. Tony definitely looked forward to that.

Suddenly, Bruce pulled away from the kiss and locked eyes with Rose. "We should really head to my room before this gets out of hand," he said softly. Rose nodded her agreement and looked to Stark over her shoulder.

"Sorry, Tony," she said, standing and holding a hand out to Bruce, "party's over."

Tony pouted. "You sure you don't want that threesome?"

"Goodnight, Tony," Bruce said, hurriedly leading Rose down the hall and slamming the door of his bedroom.

Tony glanced around the empty living room and sighed. He took a sip of his drink and wished that Pepper was there. He was so damn bored.

* * *

Bruce pushed Rose down onto the bed and moved atop her, not caring that they were both still fully dressed. He leaned down and kissed her fiercely, so ready to take her as his own for the second time that day.

Rose's hands worked quickly as they kissed, undoing the buttons of Bruce's shirt and removing it before moving her hands to his pants. However, before she could so much as unbutton them, Bruce pulled back from the kiss and gazed down at her, smirking.

"Hulk wants out," Bruce said, "…you think you can handle him?"

Rose's eyes widened a bit at this. "I…don't know," she said softly, "…he's pretty assertive."

"Don't you like that?" Bruce asked, his eyes glinting.

"Well…" Rose said, blushing a bit, "yeah…just…just be careful, alright?"

Bruce grinned and nodded and within moments the Hulk had taken his place atop Rose. Unafraid of the green beast above her, Rose brought her hands to Hulk's pants and slid them off quickly. Suddenly, though, she got an idea.

"Get off me," she said, "I think I know something you'll like."

The Hulk looked at her quizzically, but obeyed and moved off of her, instead sitting down upon the bed. Rose quickly stood and brought her hands to the hem of her tank top, slowly, tauntingly, lifting it up until the garment came off over her head. Based on the Hulk's expression as he stared at Rose, he was definitely enjoying this.

Next, Rose undid the button of her jeans and slowly shimmied out of them, smirking a bit at Hulk once she was in nothing but her undergarments.

"Have I teased you enough, darling?" Rose asked, taking a few steps closer to Hulk so she was now within his reach.

"Would you like to finish the job?" she purred, pulling herself up into his lap and straddling him. In an instant he tore away her bra and panties, leaving them in a tattered pile on the floor.

Gently, Rose placed a hand on Hulk's chest, over his heart. "Good boy," she whispered. She let out a soft yelp of surprise as the Hulk forced her down onto the bed and moved atop her, forcing her legs apart with his knee. He was going to fuck her, and he was going to fuck her good.


	15. Chapter 15

_**A/N:**__ Thank you all so much for reading and reviewing this story. It means a lot to me. And I know some of you are wondering about the logistics of anything and everything to do with the Hulk. First off, he's not more than double the size of Tony Stark in his Iron Man suit. If you don't believe me, go watch that scene where he catches Tony in Avengers. Secondly, I've been doing my best to convey this, but for those who haven't caught on or don't understand, in this story, the Hulk is just the embodiment of Bruce's extreme emotions and not a separate entity within the same body. They are the same person, the Hulk just comes out when Bruce can't possibly express himself with words. Finally, the only reason Bruce and the Hulk are so calm around Rose is because they both feel the need to protect her._

_Anyhow, enough talking for now, just had to clear the air in case anything wasn't obvious. Without further ado, here's the next chapter!_

* * *

"Are you…are you sure this'll work?" Rose asked, gazing up at the Hulk.

Hulk just shrugged, smirking down at her.

"That's not very reassuring, Bruce," Rose muttered, sliding her arms around Hulk's neck. The Hulk didn't answer. He simply began to force his way inside of her. Rose tightened her grip on his neck, gasping out softly. She wasn't sure she could handle this, but she was determined to try.

Hulk slid in as far as he could go, disappointed that he couldn't fit all the way. He looked down at Rose, awaiting a signal of some form to tell him to continue.

"I'm okay," Rose whispered, "…just…be gentle…"

Hulk didn't respond, leaning down and kissing Rose as he began to move. Rose moaned out against his lips, kissing him back as if her very life depended on it.

Hulk held himself up with one hand and used the other to greedily explore Rose's body. He groaned, removing his lips from her own and moving to kiss her neck and shoulder. He was all instinct right then, unafraid of making his mark on Rose, of making sure everyone knew she was his. Rose gasped out as he bit down on the skin of her neck here and there. He knew Rose was on the edge, and he was thrilled.

Rose clung desperately to the Hulk, her eyes squeezed shut as she moaned beneath him. It was all too much for her, and she gave in to her climax while he continued on, letting out a groan every now and then.

Finally, after a long and intense session of love-making, the Hulk gave in and came, closing his brown eyes and quickly wrapping his arms around Rose and flipping over so he lay on his back with Rose atop him. He relaxed into the bed and smiled. Rose made herself comfortable in his big, green arms after it was all over and closed her eyes.

"I love you, Bruce," she whispered, smiling a bit as the Hulk carefully pulled up the blanket. It didn't fully cover him, but it did cover Rose, and that was enough for him. Safe in Hulk's arms, Rose fell asleep, and Hulk joined her.

* * *

Bruce awoke to find sunlight streaming through his bedroom window. He started to move to get out of bed, then suddenly realized that Rose was in his arms. He smiled and held her close, remembering the events of last night. She truly was amazing, being so unafraid, so brave.

"I love you too, Rose," he whispered, stroking her hair adoringly as he watched her sleep.

* * *

Quite some time later, Bruce opened his eyes to the sound of knocking at his bedroom door.

"Bruce?" came Tony's voice, "You awake? There's breakfast."

Bruce smiled a bit and carefully removed himself from below Rose and went to open the door just a crack so he could stick his head out.

"What's for breakfast?" he asked.

Tony laughed a bit at Bruce and said, "Pancakes. I take it you had a nice time last night?"

Bruce blushed just slightly. "Yeah," he replied, "…I'll wake Rose. We'll be there in a few minutes."

"Take your time," Tony said with a smirk, turning and heading off down the hall as Bruce closed the door quietly.

Bruce made his way over to the bed and lay down, gently shaking Rose awake.

"Rose," he whispered, "…Tony made pancakes."

"Hmm?" Rose mumbled, drowsily snuggling closer to Bruce.

"Wake up, Rose," Bruce said. Rose's pretty green eyes fluttered open and she smiled when she caught sight of Bruce.

"Good morning," she whispered.

Bruce smiled back and leaned down, kissing Rose's forehead. "I'm going to get dressed," he said, "…I'll go grab some clothes for you once I am."

Rose nodded and moved to sit up in the bed. "You should wear green today," she said.

Bruce laughed. "Why do you say that?"

"You look good in green," she replied, giggling a bit, "really good."

Bruce stood from the bed and made his way over to the closet, a little embarrassed hearing that. Nevertheless, he grabbed a nice green shirt and a pair of his typical khakis and began dressing. Rose smiled, watching him from the bed.

Once Bruce was dressed, he returned to the bed and kissed the top of Rose's blue-haired head. "I hope you don't mind me picking out your clothes?"

Rose quickly shook her head. "Not at all," she said, "just make sure it's something you like."

Bruce nodded and quickly left the room. Barely a minute later he returned with an entire outfit and set it out on the bed, smirking towards Rose. He'd brought a pair of shorts the same color as his pants and a green button-up shirt that matched his own.

Rose giggled a bit at the sight and said, "So you want us to match?"

"It's more fun if we do," Bruce replied, "…wear it. I can't wait to see Tony's reaction to this."

Rose rolled her eyes, but stood and quickly dressed. She left the top two buttons of her shirt undone, much to Bruce's delight. Once she was fully dressed, Bruce slid an arm around her waist and led her to the door, opening it. The couple made their way down the hall towards the dining room where Tony was waiting with breakfast.

Tony smirked, catching sight of them and motioning for them to sit. Bruce, being the gentleman he was, pulled out a chair for Rose before taking his own seat beside her. Tony dished up some pancakes for them and laughed just a bit.

"It's cute when you wear matching outfits," he said.

Bruce smiled. "It was my idea," he said.

"And I assume that hickey on Rose's neck was also your idea?" Tony asked, raising an eyebrow.

Rose's cheeks turned a bright red and she glanced down at her pancakes, embarrassed.

Bruce laughed a bit, glancing over at Rose. "Oh, yeah, I forgot about that," he said, slipping an arm around Rose and pulling her close so she was leaning against him.

"That's so embarrassing, Bruce," Rose said softly.

"It's not like you have anyone to impress today," Bruce said, "…besides, that little mark means you're all mine."

"I didn't know you were so possessive, Bruce," Tony said.

"I didn't know either," Bruce replied, "not until recently…"

Steve wandered into the room right then. "This is a surprise," he said.

Tony laughed. "Have a seat," he said, standing, "I'll get you a plate."

Steve obliged and Tony quickly dished up some pancakes for Steve, setting them before him. Steve glanced over at Bruce and Rose and raised an eyebrow at the sight of their matching outfits.

Before Steve could comment on the outfits, Tony spoke up and said, "I've got a project for you, Bruce."

Bruce, suddenly intrigued, asked, "What's the project?"

Tony smiled. "You'll like it. Normally, I'd be doing this myself, but Pepper's coming over today. I've drawn up some blueprints for some modified arc reactors and I was hoping you could build them and test them for me."

Bruce smiled back and replied, "I'd love to…so long as Rose can join me."

Tony shrugged. "If she wants to," he said, "then I've got no problem with it."

Bruce looked to Rose expectantly.

"I'd be honored to join you," Rose said, grinning.


	16. Chapter 16

_**A/N:**__ So I've officially decided that this story will become a trilogy. Still Dreaming will be Book One and will run for a few more chapters, I'm not sure how many more at this point in time. Book Two will continue where Still Dreaming ends. I hope you all like cliffhangers :-D._

* * *

Bruce held open the door of his laboratory for Rose, grinning brightly. Rose slipped inside and he followed after her as the door closed, heading over to the table. He logged on to his lab computer and pulled up the blueprints Tony had sent him.

"Looks like you've got a bit of work to do," Rose said.

"Tons," Bruce said, "this'll keep me busy for days."

"How can I help?" Rose asked.

"Well," Bruce said, examining the first set of blueprints while he spoke, "you can stand around and look pretty, or you can help me build these."

"How would I do that?" Rose asked, "I know nothing about this stuff…"

Bruce shrugged. "Not a problem," he said, "I'll teach you."

Rose smiled and nodded. "Alright."

"I'll be back," Bruce said, "I need to go get the materials. Wait here…and don't touch anything."

"What? Are you afraid I'll break something?" Rose asked.

"Only a little," Bruce said, "my lab is kind of like Tony's car…"

"I won't break anything," Rose said, laughing, "I promise."

Bruce nodded and left, leaving Rose alone in the lab.

* * *

When Dr. Banner returned, he smiled, finding Rose sitting cutely atop the lab table, smirking towards Bruce. Bruce shook his head in amusement and set down the box of materials, going and standing before Rose, wrapping his arms around her waist.

"Is it really necessary to tease me like this?" Bruce asked, pecking her on the cheek.

Rose giggled and nodded. "Of course," she said.

Bruce smiled and held her for a moment before pulling away and grabbing the box, lifting it and placing it atop the lab table. Rose glanced down into it curiously, but didn't recognize much of what was inside.

"Hop on down," Bruce said, "and we'll get started."

Rose obeyed, slipping off of the table and standing beside Bruce as he began emptying the box.

"Turn the computer monitor so I can see it," Bruce said. As Rose did as she was directed, Bruce slipped on his glasses.

"Anything else?" Rose asked, feeling worse than useless. This was the first time she'd witnessed the genius that was Dr. Bruce Banner. She'd never realized how smart he was until she'd seen these blueprints Tony had sent him. Bruce understood them so easily, and his eyes seemed to light up at the thought of making each new design.

Bruce studied the blueprints for a moment more before looking to Rose. "There's not much else for you to do," he said, "…but you can watch me, I suppose. I'm sorry there's not much to do."

Rose shook her head. "No, it's alright," she said, going to wrap her arms around his waist from behind as he got to work, "I'm fine just watching. You look so happy doing this."

Bruce smiled. "Do I?"

"Your eyes lit up when you heard Tony say that he had a project for you," Rose replied, "I saw."

Bruce blushed only slightly and said, "You're right. I am happy doing this. I love science, and having you here makes it even better. I'm with the woman I love, doing what I love. What could be better?"

Grinning, Rose let her chin rest on Bruce's shoulder, watching him work expertly on the new arc reactor design.

"Rose," Bruce said suddenly, "this has been bugging me for a while now…"

"What?" Rose asked.

"What color is your hair? Your natural color?" Bruce asked.

Rose frowned a bit and was silent for a moment.

"You don't have to answer," Bruce said, "if it's a touchy subject…"

Rose shook her head a bit and sighed, tightening her grip a bit on Bruce's waist. She really didn't want to tell him, but she also knew that if there was anyone who needed to know, it was Bruce.

"It's blonde," Rose whispered, "…I dyed it so people wouldn't think I was stupid…"

"Who would ever think that?" Bruce asked.

"I was quiet, Bruce," Rose said, "I was an introvert. I had no friends. Everyone just assumed I was stupid and that's why I never talked. If people had found out about my abilities I would have been labeled a freak, so I tried to avoid getting close to anyone."

"So that's why you got along so well with me?" Bruce guessed, "Because you could tell I was in a similar situation?"

"I suppose so, yes," Rose said softly, "I mean, it was obvious you were a nice guy, but it was also obvious that you weren't one to talk much. I could tell you weren't comfortable getting too close to anyone."

"And how did you figure that out?" Bruce asked, "I am pretty close with Tony and the others."

Rose shrugged. "I don't really know," she said, "I think it stems from my abilities…I mean, dreamwalking is invading someone's mind, right? I have been known to say what people are thinking sometimes, so I don't know if I'm involuntarily reading minds or something like that…"

Bruce shrugged. "Perhaps we could test that later?"

Rose smiled at that and replied, "If you want."

"Do you even need to ask?" Bruce laughed, "I'm a man of science, of course I want to test your little hypothesis."

* * *

A few hours later, Bruce had finished building and testing the new arc reactor design and had deemed it just as effective as the others, no more, no less.

"Well," Bruce said, "…one down, about twenty to go."

"Twenty?" Rose asked, "He made that many designs?"

"He's a billionaire with a brilliant mind and far too much free time," Bruce said, "what do you expect him to do all day?"

"Want to work on the next one?" Rose asked.

"Actually," Bruce said, grinning and placing his hands on her hips, "I was hoping we could perform that little experiment we talked about earlier."

"And how were you planning to do that?" Rose asked.

"It's simple," Bruce said, "I figured I'd make a mental list of about twenty items and have you write them down in the order I think of them. We'll pretty much know instantly if you were right about telepathy being linked to your abilities."

Rose raised an eyebrow, but nodded. "Alright," she said, "I suppose I'm willing to try it…but I don't know if it'll work."

Bruce shrugged and went over to a desk, grabbing a notepad and a pen. "I suppose we'll find out," he said, quickly scribbling down a list of twenty items on a sheet of paper and tearing it from the notepad, making sure Rose couldn't see what was written on it. He handed Rose the notepad and the pen and smiled.

"It'll be pretty cool if this works," Bruce said.

Rose nodded. "Are we starting?"

Bruce nodded, picking up his piece of paper and looking at the first word.

* * *

After a good half an hour, the experiment was finished and Rose glanced down at the words she had written on the notepad.

"I don't know if this worked," she said softly, suddenly feeling very anxious.

Bruce shrugged and took the notepad from her, giving her a slight smile. "Nothing to be ashamed of if it didn't," he said, "we learn from failure more than we do from success anyhow."

Rose didn't respond, watching Bruce as he checked Rose's answers with his original list. She watched his dark brown eyes dart between the pages and pause at the end for a long moment. She frowned, uncomfortable in the silence.

"You might want to have a look for yourself, Rose," Bruce said, handing her the paper and the notepad. Rose took them and read through each answer, one by one.

"Everything matches," Rose said softly.

"I think you were right," Bruce said, "you might not just be a dreamwalker. You might be a telepath."


	17. Chapter 17

"_You might be a telepath."_

Rose's yes widened. "A telepath?" she asked.

"How else could you have known exactly what was on that piece of paper?" Bruce asked, raising an eyebrow at her, "Your abilities must stretch beyond just simple dreamwalking, and, in that case, you need to be trained to utilize them."

"Well, I don't know about you, but I don't know anybody who can train a telepath," Rose said.

"First off," Bruce said, "we don't know the full extent of your abilities so I'm not sure if telepath is the right word, and, secondly, I think I might be able to help you with training myself."

"You plan to train me?" Rose asked, "How? And how are we going to find out the extent of my abilities? You want me to force you to Hulk up or something?"

Bruce laughed, removing his glasses. "Well, actually, that was one of my ideas for training if your abilities extended into the area of mind control," he said, "but, on another note, I do believe we've confirmed it over and again that you can read minds, even if you can't quite control that ability yet."

"Should we tell Tony about this?" Rose asked.

Bruce glanced down at the watch on his wrist and shrugged. "It's lunch time already," he said, "let's head upstairs. Feel free to tell him if you want to." With that, Dr. Banner stood and took Rose's hand, helping her to her feet and leading her out of the lab.

* * *

In the dining room, Bruce pulled out a chair for Rose before taking a seat beside her. Tony was already at the table and a few pizza boxes were laid out.

"Dig in," Tony said, "there's pepperoni pizza and Hawaiian pizza. I got both since Bruce doesn't like pineapple."

Rose giggled a bit at that and reached for a slice of pepperoni, setting it on her plate.

"It's a good thing he doesn't," she said, "because I don't either."

Tony laughed. "You two are perfect for each other," he said, "it's adorable."

Bruce smiled and dished some pizza up for himself. "You want to tell him, or no?" he asked Rose.

Rose shrugged and replied, "Now that you've said something he's not going to stop pestering us until we tell him anyhow."

"Tell me what?" Tony asked, looking to the pair.

Rose motioned for Bruce to explain as she took a bite of her pizza, giggling a bit mentally.

Bruce rolled his eyes at Rose and said, "I have reason to believe that Rose is a telepath, not just a dreamwalker."

Tony smirked, intrigued, and looked to Rose. "A telepath, you say? Quick, what number am I thinking of?"

Rose rolled her eyes. "You're not thinking of a number. You're thinking of the color red."

Tony's eyes widened a bit and he looked to Bruce. "Go on," he prompted.

"I would like to conduct some tests to find the extent of her abilities," Bruce said, "…can you help?"

Tony frowned a bit. "You know I'd love to," he said, "but Pepper's here today…"

"And you're hoping to get laid," Rose finished, "…don't need to be a telepath to guess that one."

"Can you help at least until Pepper's free, then?" Bruce asked.

"Fine," Tony said, "but we're working in my lab, not yours."

"Fair enough," Bruce replied.

* * *

After lunch the trio made their way down to Tony's lab and got down to business. Rose frowned as Tony attached some wires to her forehead. "You guys know I don't like wires," she muttered.

"Well forgive me for being curious about what's going on in your brain," Tony said, "it's not like I'm a telepath."

"I get the feeling that was meant as an insult," Rose said, "are you jealous?"

Tony frowned. "Okay, yeah, a little," he admitted.

"So what exactly do you want me to try to do?" Rose asked.

"Well," Bruce said, looking up from a computer monitor and lowering his glasses as he looked over at Rose, "I've got a large list of things here that we're gonna have you try. Most of them probably won't work, but it's worth a shot."

Rose nodded as Tony stepped away and went to look over Bruce's shoulder at the monitor. He pointed to something and said, "Let's have her try that one." Bruce quickly shook his head. "Most of these are far too advanced for her to try right now," he said, "…I say we start with something simple."

"Charmspeaking, then?" Tony suggested, smirking.

"Hear that?" Bruce asked, glancing over at Rose.

"I assume you're volunteering, Bruce?" Rose replied.

"Yes," Bruce said, "but only because I know how possessive I can get…"

Rose smirked and purred, "Come here, Bruce."

Bruce grinned and stood, making his way over to Rose obediently. His kind eyes gazed down at her as she continued, "Why don't you show Tony how possessive you can be?"

Bruce's eyes seemed to flash with delight as he leaned down and pulled Rose into a passionate kiss, one hand on her cheek and the other tangled in her blue hair. They kissed for quite a long moment before Rose pulled back and smiled towards Bruce. "I think that's a yes for the charmspeaking," she said, "because you're not usually this obedient…or direct, for that matter."

Bruce laughed, a little embarrassed at how easily he'd been manipulated. Tony just smirked from where he sat by the monitor.

"Hey," Tony said, "while you're at it, why not try mind control?"

Rose frowned a bit and glanced up at Bruce. Bruce just gave her a shrug. "I trust you," he said, "why don't you give it a try?"

Rose nodded. "Alright," she said softly, giving Bruce a brief smile. She really wasn't sure if this would work, but she gave it her best shot.

Bruce smiled sweetly down at Rose, watching her. As if they had a mind of their own, Bruce's hands came to the buttons of his shirt and began undoing them one by one until the whole front of his shirt was wide open, allowing Rose the perfect view of his beautiful, muscular chest. He then leaned down and kissed her again, letting her hands wander freely over his chest. Satisfied that the little experiment had worked, Rose relaxed in his arms, kissing him for a moment more before pulling back.

Bruce blinked, looking rather confused. "That…was strange," he said, glancing down and remembering that his shirt was undone and quickly working to rebutton it.

"That was fun to watch," Tony teased. Rose rolled her eyes at him and they continued on down the list.

It seemed that either nothing else worked, or Rose was simply exhausted from using her abilities, so they three of them gave up on their tests for the day and Tony went downstairs, planning to get Pepper to call it a day right then and there.

Rose and Bruce remained in the lab, looking over the data, both the things that Stark had observed and the brainwave data that Tony's little machine had collected.

"This is crazy, isn't it?" Rose asked.

Bruce nodded. "Is it a bad thing that I kind of like being your little test dummy?"

"No," Rose said, giggling, "at least, not to me it's not."

Bruce laughed. "Why don't we head upstairs and play around a bit?"

Rose grinned brightly. "Sounds fun," she replied, reaching for Bruce's hand.


	18. Chapter 18

_**A/N:**__ Something compelled me to put an author's note here…dunno what…_

_Maybe it was just because it's been a while since I've updated you guys with my plans/thoughts…_

_I dunno…HI GUYS!_

_I suppose I don't really have anything to say…_

_On with the chapter…_

* * *

The days passed by quickly from then on. Bruce Rose and Tony holed themselves up in Tony's lab each day and continued testing Rose. They found nothing new, though she gained experience with her charmspeak, mind control, and limited telepathy. She found that overall she couldn't really control when she read someone's mind or what she read from them. Everyone basically concluded that Bruce's list experiment had been a success thanks to complete luck.

Now that they had conclusive results on Rose's abilities and limits, Bruce had decided it was time to train her, and he was more than willing to be her little test dummy. If there was anyone in the world that he trusted completely and totally, it was Rose. He'd never felt so safe with anyone before her, not even Betty Ross.

Rose, sitting to Bruce's right at the breakfast table, gently poked her boyfriend in the side, pulling him out of his thoughts.

"Earth to Dr. Banner?" she said, grinning at him. Bruce smiled back down at her and slid an arm around her shoulders.

"Sorry," he said, "…I was just thinking…"

"I could tell," Rose said, leaning in to Bruce as Tony stood and silently left the room, having already finished his breakfast of Lucky Charms, "Want to tell me what you were thinking about?"

"Just you," Bruce replied, "and how perfect you are."

Rose blushed at Bruce's answer and the doctor smiled brightly down at her.

"I'm done eating, if you want to head down to the lab and start your training," Bruce said.

"You've barely eaten," Rose muttered. Something was bugging him, she could tell.

"Not hungry," Bruce explained, releasing Rose before standing. He reached for her hand and she took it quietly. As a couple they made their way downstairs to the laboratory. Once inside, Bruce positioned two chairs to face each other and motioned for Rose to sit in one of them. She made no move to sit, instead resting her hands on the back of the chair and staring at Bruce.

"Something's bothering you," she finally said, "…why won't you tell me what it is?"

Bruce frowned, tucking his glasses into the pocket of his shirt and looking away. "You don't want to hear about this," he said, "trust me on this…"

"I'm your girlfriend, Bruce," Rose said, reaching a hand out and placing it gently on his shoulder, "and I know you have deep wounds that will never heal…I want to share your pain, Bruce, and take away some of the burden. Won't you let me?"

Bruce was silent as he lifted his head to gaze towards Rose, his eyes full of sadness and pain. Finally, he sighed and gave her a slight nod, sitting down in one of the chairs. Rose did the same and reached for Bruce's hands, taking them in her own. Bruce smiled a little at this.

"I suppose you know about trust issues all too well," Bruce said softly, "…I've had my fair share, but you're the first person I've never feared. In my mind, there are no walls between us, no information I wouldn't trust you with if you ever wanted it. Before the accident, I was dating this girl, Betty Ross. A while after the accident I found her again. She was the first person to ever think of me as a man and not a monster. I broke things off with her when I left for Calcutta. This morning, thinking about how safe I feel with you, she came to mind and…I started to wonder if I'd ever really trusted her, or if I ever should have."

"I read your file when Fury tried to recruit me for the Chitauri thing," Rose said, "…is that General Ross character Betty's father?"

Bruce's eyes widened a bit at this news, but he nodded. He hadn't expected Rose to know that.

"I can understand why you would second-guess yourself for trusting her, then," Rose said, "…but look, Bruce, that's all in the past, alright? You're safe right here with me."

"I know," Bruce murmured, "it just…it just scared me a bit, thinking back. I just wish I had a clear answer on whether I was even doing the right thing by trusting her. For all I know, she could have been leading me towards a trap and I was just one lucky bastard to avoid it."

"Don't think that way," Rose commanded, causing Bruce to look at her in surprise, "quit digging yourself a hole."

Bruce, impressed by the effect of Rose's charmspeak on him, just nodded. "I'm sorry, Rose," he said softly.

"Don't worry about it," Rose said in a calm voice, smiling towards him, "don't we have work to do?"

* * *

Rose's skills advanced at an impressive pace as the days went by and soon enough she was an expert with her newfound powers. However, her telepathy was as unpredictable and unreliable as always. The best anyone could figure, it was just a 'glitch' in her mind, or, in other words, a mutation.

Curled up cutely in Bruce's lap, Rose began feeling drowsy. Bruce noticed this and smiled, gently shaking her.

"Hey," he whispered, "want me to carry you to bed?"

Rose managed a simple nod and Bruce shook his head in amusement, scooping Rose up in his arms as he stood. He carried her to their shared bedroom and gently tucked her in, kissing her forehead before leaving the room. He wasn't tired yet and figured he's join her in bed later. That was when his phone rang. He pulled the phone out of his pocket quickly and answered it without checking to see if he knew the number. He didn't even take a moment to wonder who was calling at this hour of the night.

"Hello?" Bruce asked.

"Dr. Banner?" came the soft voice of a female.

Bruce's eyes widened. He knew that voice. "Betty?" he asked in disbelief.

"Bruce?" Betty asked, "It's so good to hear your voice."

"Yeah," Bruce answered noncommittally.

"I heard you were in Manhattan?" Betty said. There was clearly a smile on her face as she spoke.

"Yes," Bruce answered honestly, "…what was it you were calling for?"

"I was wondering if I could drop by and see you," Betty replied.

"Oh…," Bruce said, unsure how to respond. After his talk with Rose a few days ago he was suddenly uncomfortable trusting Betty. Then again, though, maybe he was just being paranoid. It was part of his nature after all.

"So is that a yes?" Betty prodded.

"Sure, I guess," Bruce said.

"Really?" Betty exclaimed, clearly very excited, "I can't wait to see you. How about I come by for lunch the day after tomorrow?"

"That works," Bruce agreed, "…I assume you've heard I've been staying at Stark Tower?"

"Who hasn't?" Betty said, "I'll be there the day after tomorrow at noon, sharp. You'll have to catch me up on what's been going on since you left for India."

"Sure," Bruce said, "see you then." He didn't wait for her response, simply hung up and slid his phone into his pocket. Why did he feel an overabundance of dread?


	19. Chapter 19

The next morning, Bruce made his way out to the living room clad only in his pajamas and was surprised to find Tony sitting on the couch working from a tablet. Rose was still fast asleep at this hour and Bruce hadn't had the heart to wake her.

"What are you doing up at this hour?" Bruce asked Tony, checking his watch just to make sure he had read it right. Sure enough, he had, and it was only 7:30 AM.

"I should be asking you the same thing," Tony said, "you didn't go to bed until well past midnight."

"You went to bed after I did," Bruce countered.

"Something came up," Tony finally answered.

"I hope it's nothing too major?" Bruce said.

"Nah," Tony said, "just something Pepper slammed me with. Women, am I right?"

Bruce laughed a bit at that. "Speaking of women," he said.

"Relationship troubles?" Tony guessed, still not looking up from the tablet.

"No, not at all," Bruce said, plopping down on the other end of the couch with a sigh, "…it's just…I got a phone call from Betty last night."

"Betty Ross?" Tony asked, looking up from his work in surprise, "Your old girlfriend?"

"Yeah," Bruce said, "she wanted to come over for lunch tomorrow."

"And what did you say to her?" Tony asked.

"I couldn't very well deny her, could I?" Bruce said.

"Did you tell her you'd moved on?"

Bruce frowned and looked away. "No," he said, "I tried to be vague about everything. I'm not really sure I like the idea of her coming here."

"Why?" Tony asked.

"It's…complicated," Bruce said, "…I should really be talking to Rose about this, not you."

"Then why aren't you?" Tony said.

"I couldn't bring myself to wake her," Bruce admitted, "she needs her sleep."

"Fine then," Tony said, "if you don't want to talk about why you don't like the idea of Betty coming here, then talk to me about how the hell you think she got your number."

Bruce's eyes widened a bit at that. "How _did_ she get my number?" he asked.

"Hell of a question, isn't it?" Tony said, "I can understand how she found out where you were…everyone kind of knows that you've been staying at the tower. But the phone number? That's a lot harder to get a hold of."

"Why don't we ask her when she comes over?" Bruce suggested.

Tony shrugged. "Fair enough," he said, "…hope you don't mind it if I bump up surveillance while she's here, though."

Bruce shook his head. "I'd actually like that," he said, "…I'd feel better knowing that she's being watched. There's something that sets me on edge now when I think about her."

"Is it just because you're with Rose now?" Tony asked.

"Something else," Bruce replied, standing with a sigh and continuing, "whenever Rose wakes up tell her that I'm in my lab."

Tony nodded and watched as Bruce left, waiting a moment before silently returning to his work.

* * *

"Hey," Rose said softly, slipping into the lab, "Tony said you were down here." She was wearing a pair of short purple shorts and a grey tank top. Bruce looked up from his work and smiled a bit at the sight, liking what he saw.

"Are you trying to provoke me, darling," Bruce teased, removing his glasses. Rose giggled at this and made her way over to him, letting out a soft yelp of surprise as he pulled her into his lap and slid his arms around her.

"Sleep well?" Bruce asked.

"Yeah," Rose answered, snuggling into him happily.

"Good," he said, "you needed your sleep."

"Did I miss anything?" Rose asked.

"Actually," Bruce said, "you did. I got a phone call from Betty last night after I put you to bed."

"Betty Ross?" Rose asked, rather surprised, "How'd she get your number?"

Bruce laughed. "Straight to the point, as always," he said, "…I don't really know. All I know is that she's coming to the tower for lunch tomorrow. I don't know why she wants to see me other than to catch up on everything since we last saw each other."

"You don't like the idea of her coming here," Rose said, reading his mind.

"Well, yeah," Bruce said softly, "…plus, it's going to be so awkward now that I'm with you…"

"I'm not going to turn green with envy, darling," Rose teased, "don't worry. She'll understand that you've moved on. After all, you were the one who broke up with her, weren't you?"

Bruce sighed a bit. "I suppose you're right," he said, "I've got nothing to worry about…you know, aside from how she managed to get my number."

"We'll have to remember to ask about that," Rose said. Bruce nodded his agreement.

"Did you want to get to training?" Bruce asked, "I don't really have much work to do other than study your progress."

Rose grinned and nodded. "If that's what you want, let's get started."

* * *

Bruce awoke at nine o'clock sharp the next morning and noticed that Rose wasn't in bed. He glanced around the room, his eyes going wide. She was in nothing but her bra and panties over by the closet, changing for the day.

"I'm pretty sure the show looks a lot better from the front, Rose," Bruce teased, "if that's what you're going for."

Rose jumped at Bruce's sudden words and turned to look towards him, blushing a deep red. "I didn't realize you were up," she said.

"I think I woke up once your side of the bed went cold," Bruce said, sitting up, "…you're cute when you blush."

"Really, Bruce?" Rose asked, "Flirting this early in the morning?"

"I can't help it if the Other Guy is greedy," Bruce said.

Rose rolled her eyes and sauntered over to the bed, sliding in beside Bruce and snuggling herself close to him. "Better?" she asked softly. In response, Bruce's hand slid down and squeezed her ass.

"You're very open with me," Rose said, "very blunt. You're not like that with anyone else."

"I don't want to scare them away," Bruce said softly.

"Well, you don't have to worry about scaring me away," Rose replied, "I'm never going to leave you."

Bruce grinned and his eyes flashed. Rose took this to mean that both he and the Other Guy had liked what she'd said.

"We have a lunch guest today," Rose said softly, "…why don't we get dressed and have a quick snack so we can get a little bit of training in before Betty gets here?"

Bruce nodded. "That's acceptable," he said, "it seems the Other Guy quite likes that plan."

"Of course he does," Rose teased, "it pretty much means we get to have an intense make-out session in the lab all in the name of science. That's like a win-win for you, both parts of you."

Bruce laughed. "I do love science."

* * *

Jarvis's voice interrupted the couple's make-out session with an announcement that Miss Ross had arrived and was waiting in the lobby. Rose reluctantly released Bruce's mind from her control, giggling as he leaned forward and kissed her nose before lifting her off the table and setting her back down on her feet.

"Will you come with me to get her?" Bruce asked.

"Of course," Rose said, gently squeezing his hand.

"I can't believe I trust you so much Rose," Bruce said, laughing a bit as he led her into the elevator and pushed the button for the ground floor, "…I mean, every single day I let you put me in a position where you could do anything to me that you wanted, and I'm not even the slightest bit afraid."

"That's probably because we haven't tried the more complex stuff yet," Rose said, "like anything that has to do with the Hulk."

"Fair point," Bruce said, "but that doesn't scare me that much either. It just baffles me how much I trust you."

"You have good reason to," Rose replied, "I love you and I'd never dare to hurt you. Besides, I couldn't hurt you if I tried, literally."

Bruce laughed. "You're right," he said, bringing her hand to his lips and kissing it before letting go of it just moments before the elevator doors opened.

Bruce and Rose stepped out of the elevator and turned as they heard Betty call out, "Bruce!" Bruce grinned brightly, though Rose could tell it was somewhat forced.

A very pretty, smart-looking young woman strode over, her brown hair cascading over her shoulders and her blue eyes locked on Bruce. Without warning, she hugged the man, and he awkwardly reciprocated.

"I've missed you, Bruce," Betty said as they pulled away, "how've you been?"

"Quite well," Bruce said, "oh, Betty, this is Rose."

Betty turned to look at Rose and smiled, holding a hand out to shake. Rose took it, though it was rather awkward since she wasn't exactly a hand-shaker. "Nice to meet you," Rose said, smiling genuinely.

"You too," Betty replied, "how do you know Bruce?"

"Long story," Rose said, figuring it best to let Bruce tell Betty about their relationship, "…should we head upstairs? Tony ordered some Chinese."

"Tony?" Betty asked.

"Tony Stark," Bruce said, "he's a friend of mine. That's part of why I've been staying here."

"You really do have friends in high places, don't you?" Betty teased as they slipped into an elevator.

"I suppose so," Bruce replied, "I suppose so."


	20. Chapter 20

The trio stepped out of the elevator and made their way for the dining room. When they entered, they found Tony unpacking a bunch of take-out boxes.

"Hey Tony," Bruce said.

Tony stopped unpacking the boxes and turned, smirking a bit. "I was about to come get you guys," he said, "lunch is here."

"I can see that," Rose said, noticing that Tony had yet to get out plates and silverware, "…I'll go get some plates." She quickly left to the kitchen before Tony could protest.

"Tony," Bruce said, "this is Betty."

Tony nodded and held out a hand to Miss Ross. "I've heard a lot about you," he said.

Bruce did his best to hide his frown. Tony was digging him a hole, and he didn't like the thought of having to climb back out of it later.

"Same with you," Betty said, shaking Tony's hand with a smile, "I didn't realize you were friends with Bruce."

"It's a long story," Tony said, looking to Bruce with a smirk, "isn't it, Big Guy?"

"Really Tony?" Bruce said, "Teasing me in front of Miss Ross?"

"When does he ever _not_ tease people?" Rose asked, returning to the dining room and setting the plates and utensils down on the table.

"Anyhow," Bruce said, "we've got all lunch to catch up. There's a lot that you missed, Betty."

"I think you just won the "Biggest Understatement of the Year" award," Tony said, casually plopping down in a seat and beginning to serve himself.

Rose took a seat on the opposite side of the table from Tony and quietly began to serve herself. It seemed the general consensus was to avoid sitting by Tony as Bruce led Betty over to Rose's side and sat between the women.

"If only Pepper wasn't in a board meeting," Tony muttered, "…it's lonely over here."

"Quit complaining, Stark," Rose said.

"Are they always like this?" Betty asked Bruce. Bruce nodded and replied, "Constantly. Rose doesn't pick her battles."

"That's because I know I'll win against Tony any day," Rose said.

"Doubtful," Tony said.

"Should we get on with lunch?" Bruce asked. Rose just shrugged and Tony was silent. Despite how much they seemed to hate each other. Rose and Tony quite enjoyed arguing with each other.

"So," Betty said, "what all happened since you left for India?"

"Wait," Tony said, "you're asking what happened to him since India? This is going to be one long lunch."

Bruce ignored Tony and began talking, "Well, I'll try to give you the short version."

"There is no short version," Tony said.

Bruce sighed and continued, "Did you ever hear anything about those aliens that attacked New York?"

"Yeah," Betty said, "it was all over the news for days. They said a group called the Avengers stopped the invasion."

"Welcome to Avengers HQ," Tony said, smirking, "I'm Iron Man…in case it wasn't obvious."

Rose literally facepalmed right then. "Tony," she said, "everybody knows that and nobody needs to hear you say it…"

"Wait," Betty said, "so…you're all part of the Avengers?"

Bruce nodded, smiling a bit. "It's a great gig," he said, "you know, if you like smashing stuff."

Rose burst into a fit of laughter at this and Bruce glanced over at her. "What are you thinking about?" he asked.

"Remember when you beat the shit out of Loki?" Rose said, unable to stop laughing.

Bruce laughed a bit. "Yes," he said.

"Loki?" Betty asked.

"Brother of Thor," Tony said, "Loki's the guy who led the Chitauri invasion and just recently tried to invade the earth once more. Needless to say, we stopped him."

"So you guys were all involved in both invasions of Manhattan?" Betty asked.

"Yeah," Tony said, "and both times Bruce beat the shit out of Loki…I wish I would have seen the first time, though. There were two Loki-sized holes in my floor and I'm guessing he just swung him around like they do in the cartoons."

Bruce laughed and nodded. Betty just smiled. "Sounds like you've learned to control the Hulk, Bruce," she said, "I'm happy for you."

"For the most part," Bruce said. Rose looked down at her plate in order to hide her face. Her cheeks were bright red as she thought of that night she'd had sex with the Hulk. Bruce was in total control of his other half, and Rose knew it.

"So," Betty said, "anything else I haven't heard about?"

"Did you tell her about Rose yet?" Tony asked, very discreetly hinting that the doctor should probably tell Betty about his girlfriend.

"Well," Bruce said, trying to decide how to go about introducing Rose as his girlfriend, "she's our newest member. She pretty much single-handedly beat Loki the last time we saw him. She's, well, I guess the best word is telepathic. And…" He paused and reached for Rose's hand underneath the table and squeezed it. Rose looked up at this as Bruce continued, "And, she's my girlfriend."

This was clearly a surprise for Betty. Everyone sat there in silence for a moment, waiting for Betty to say something.

"I'm happy for you," Betty said softly, though it was clear she was disappointed.

Rose instantly saw through Betty's act, but chose not to say anything. "I…I'll just go put the dishes in the wash," she said, standing and quickly gathering the dirty plates before going.

"If it makes you feel any better," Tony said, looking to Betty, "it wasn't until Rose got here that Bruce finally started opening up to us. She's worked wonders with our little introvert scientist."

"I don't think that's helping, Tony," Bruce said.

"No," Betty said, "it's actually nice to know that he's opening up to someone."

Bruce frowned at this. "I'm sorry, Betty," he said, "…I didn't realize you still liked me…even after all this time."

"Of course I still like you," Betty said, "…I should just go. Thank you for the meal." Before either man could protest, Betty had left the room.

"I'll go help Rose," Bruce muttered, standing and leaving the room.

* * *

Rose placed the last dish in the wash and sighed. She felt Bruce's arms wrap themselves around her and she turned to look at him. She could see the pain in his eyes and she quickly hugged him.

"I'm so sorry about this, Rose," Bruce said.

"Don't you dare start apologizing to me," Rose said, "I don't want to hear your apologies. It took a lot for you to tell her, I could tell."

"She still likes me," Bruce muttered, holding Rose closer.

"You think I didn't notice?" Rose said softly, "Why do you think I left the room?"

"If it was that obvious," Bruce said, "why didn't I see it until she told me?"

"Don't beat yourself up," Rose said, "…please, Bruce."

"How can I not?" Bruce asked, "I mean, I think I just lost a friend."

"If she ever cared for you, she'll understand," Rose said, "now, please, quit dwelling on this. I hate it when you're upset."

Bruce was silent for a moment, unsure how to respond.

"Tell Tony that we're going out," Bruce said, "I think it'll help if I smash something."

Rose smiled just a bit at this and leaned up, kissing Bruce's cheek before leaving the kitchen to go tell Tony that they were going out. Bruce couldn't help but smile. Maybe he'd lost a friend, but he knew he would never lose Rose, and that was enough to take the pain away.


	21. Chapter 21

Rose slipped into the driver's seat of Tony's Acura before Bruce could say anything. She put the key in the ignition and started up the car as Bruce got in. Bruce just laughed a bit.

"What are you laughing at?" Rose asked, pulling out of the parking garage.

"Just you," Bruce said, "…you just hopped in the driver's seat like you own the car."

"I might as well," Rose said, "I use it more than Tony does."

Bruce laughed and ran a hand through his dark hair, grinning. "Perhaps you should talk to Tony about that," he said.

Rose smiled and reached over, placing a hand on Bruce's knee. "So where were you wanting to go?" she asked softly.

"Unless you know a better place," Bruce said, "why don't we go to that warehouse?"

Grinning, Rose sped off towards the warehouse. Bruce relaxed in his seat, an amused smile plastered on his face.

* * *

Absolutely exhausted, the Hulk sat down against the wall, closed his eyes, and transformed back into the scrawny by comparison Dr. Banner. He was breathing heavily and it was clear that he'd had his fill of smashing. Pretty much anything and everything that could have been smashed in the warehouse had been.

Rose, who had been watching by the door, made her way over to Bruce with a fresh pair of clothes and knelt beside him. She sweetly kissed his cheek and set the clothes down in his lap.

"Better?" Rose asked. Bruce gave her a slight nod and opened his eyes, grinning at the sight of her.

"Need some help getting dressed?" Rose continued. Again, Bruce nodded, very glad that Rose cared so much for him. Rose took the fresh set of clothes and set them aside before carefully sliding off Bruce's tattered pants. She blushed a bit at the sight of the nude man before her, but continued with her task, beginning to help him dress. By the time she made it to his shirt, Bruce had finally caught his breath. However, simply because he liked the attention, he let Rose button up his shirt.

Once Bruce was dressed, Rose stood and offered him her hands so she could help him up. Bruce took her hands and struggled to his feet, laughing a bit as he somehow ended up in Rose's arms.

"I'm hungry," Bruce said. Rose couldn't help but laugh at this.

"Big guy take a lot out of you?" she asked.

"Big time," Bruce said, squeezing Rose's hand before turning to leave the warehouse.

* * *

Bruce and Rose returned to the tower around seven that night and were greeted by Tony when they arrived upstairs.

"You guys were gone quite a while," Tony said, "what'd you do? Take a road trip to Jersey?"

"Why?" Rose said, smirking, "Were you lonely?"

"Frankly, yes," Tony said, pouting a bit, "Pepper got a call and had to go do some business stuff."

"Surely there was something fun to do," Rose said.

"There would have been if you two hadn't disabled Jarvis's recording in Banner's lab," Tony complained.

"That's kind of creepy, Tony," Bruce said, "wanting to watch us make out."

"Get used to it," Tony replied.

Rose sighed. "Bruce, if you want to head down to the lab and do a bit of work, I'll keep Tony company," she said, "I know you've got some stuff to do and I'll only be in the way if I join you."

Bruce smiled a bit and leaned over, kissing Rose's cheek. "Alright, Rose," he said softly, "thanks." With that, the doctor turned and left, leaving Rose to deal with a beyond bored Tony Stark.

"Want to play some Mario Kart?" Rose asked, smirking a bit.

"I call Bowser," Tony said with a laugh, heading for the living room.

"Fair enough," Rose replied, following after him, "Daisy's my girl."

* * *

Dr. Banner slipped into his lab, running a hand through his hair as he made his way over to his desk and sat down in his chair, booting up the computer. It took him a moment to realize that he'd neglected to turn on the lights. He stood from his desk, laughing a bit to himself and went over to the door, flipping the light switch. The lab was lit up in an instant and it took Bruce no time at all to notice that there was something there that didn't belong.

"Betty?" he asked, removing his glasses and tucking them in his shirt pocket.

Betty smirked a bit from her perch on one of the lab tables and twirled a lock of dark hair around her finger. "Hey, Bruce," she purred.

"What are you doing in my lab?" Bruce asked, "I thought Jarvis was given express orders not to admit anyone without my consent."

"I'm not an idiot, Bruce," Betty said, "Tony's AI wasn't a problem."

"You still haven't answered my question," Bruce pressed. What the fuck was Betty doing in his lab? Whatever it was, he knew it couldn't be good. He didn't like the feeling he had in his gut.

"Oh, Bruce," Betty said, hopping off of the lab table, "I'm here to enlighten you."

"What do you mean?" Bruce asked. He wanted so badly to reach for the phone in his pocket, to alert Jarvis, to do something, but he had a bad feeling that Betty wouldn't give him a chance. He was on his own.

"That girl," Betty said, frowning, "that Rose…she's a terrible influence on you. She's feeding you lies about that monster of yours. He's not a part of you. He's a beast."

These words stabbed Bruce in the heart. This wasn't the Betty he remembered. What had happened?

"He needs to be destroyed," Betty said, "or…there's always the alternative…"

"What happened to you, Betty?" Bruce asked. He was suddenly very scared in the presence of this woman. She wasn't Betty Ross. Someone had taken the old Betty out and stuffed something else in.

"Daddy enlightened me," Betty said, "I spoke with him after lunch…after you rejected me."

"Betty, calm down," Bruce said, "…think about what you're doing…"

"I know what I'm doing, Bruce," Betty growled, "I'm giving you a choice. You come with me willingly and you let Daddy get use the beast, or you lose everything. Either way, Daddy will have you eventually."

Betty's cryptic words stung more than anything and Bruce gazed towards her, fighting back his emotions. General Ross had finally turned Betty, he didn't know how, but he knew it had happened. He knew he couldn't willingly give himself up, and he knew he couldn't Hulk out. If he did, he'd hurt Betty, and, no matter how her mind had been twisted, he knew he couldn't bear to do that.

"We'll just have to see about that," Bruce said, "…I believe you already know my answer."

Betty smirked, waltzing over towards Bruce, towards the door. Standing mere inches from the man, Betty pulled something from her pocket and thrust it into Bruce's hand, forcing his thumb to press a button.

"You let that button go," Betty said, "…well, I would tell you what happens, but I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise now."

"Betty," Bruce said, both anger and pain in his brown eyes.

"We'll see how you feel about me in a few days," Betty purred, slipping out of the room before Bruce could stop her. He looked down at the device she'd placed in his hand and frowned. If he Hulked out, he'd crush it and it would still do its job. He knew he couldn't hold that button down long enough for anyone else to come to his rescue. He let go and said a silent prayer.

* * *

The explosion shook the building and Rose and Tony were stunned to silence. In an instant they were on their feet, having dropped their controllers carelessly onto the floor.

"Jarvis, talk to me," Tony said, heading for the elevator, Rose trailing quickly behind him.

"Level twelve, sir," Jarvis said, "Dr. Banner's lab."

"Jarvis, you get your recording system back up in there and you tell me what the fuck is going on!" Tony spat, grabbing Rose by the arm and practically throwing her into the elevator, "And get us down there ASAP!"

Rose was silent, staring straight ahead as the elevator descended. An overwhelming sense of dread crept over her, threatening to swallow her whole.

* * *

_**A/N:**__ CLIFFHANGER! MWAHAHA!_

_But no, seriously, I feel your pain. We're nearing the end of Book 1. If you don't cry between now and the end of Book 1, you have no soul._

_So, yes, I'm evil, so go grab your torches and pitchforks, but don't march on my house just yet…it gets worse…oh, it gets sooo much worse…_


	22. Chapter 22

"Sir," Jarvis said, "the lab seems to be mostly intact."

"I don't care about the lab, Jarvis," Tony growled, "where's Banner?"

"Out cold, sir," Jarvis said as the elevator doors opened. Tony hurriedly began out of the elevator and paused, realizing that Rose was still in the elevator, unmoving.

"Rose, snap out of it!" Tony said, roughly grabbing her by the arm and dragging her along. She seemed to regain her senses as he did this and ran after the older man. She couldn't very well stand about while Bruce was unconscious. It wouldn't do him any good for her to sit around and worry.

"Open the goddamned door, Jarvis," Tony said, reaching the door of the lab and rushing inside, Rose on his heels.

The lab was trashed and it was blatantly obvious that there'd been an explosion. Half the lights in the room were broken, sparking here and there, and all the computers were either dead or as good as. Very little information would be able to be salvaged from this mess, but the information was not the problem at this point in time.

Dr. Banner lay in a heap on the floor before one of the lab tables. Rose found him first and knelt down beside him, astonished to find he was mostly uninjured. He had a few scrapes and bruises and a large gash in the palm of his hand, but was otherwise fine, aside from being unconscious.

"Bruce," Rose breathed, wanting nothing more than to take him in her arms. Tony stopped her, though, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't move him," Tony said softly, "…Jarvis, call an ambulance."

"One is already on the way, sir," Jarvis said in a voice that made it clear that the AI understood that Tony was in distress.

Rose was silent, unable to look away from Bruce. Gently, lovingly, she brushed his hair from his face. "Please be okay," she whispered, "please, Bruce."

Tony stood by, watching and pacing, extremely on edge. Not only was there a man down, but Tony suspected foul play. Dr. Banner was careful enough and smart enough not to become involved with any kind of experiment that might go this horribly wrong. Of course, he wasn't going to voice his thoughts aloud, not to Rose anyhow. Who knew how she'd react? She was even more of a time bomb than Bruce was.

* * *

From the moment the medical personnel arrived, everything was a blur for Rose. Tony insisted on driving her to the hospital himself so the medics could focus on helping Banner, but Rose would have none of Stark's shit right then. However, Rose understood why Tony suggested she ride with him and, after a heated argument, finally went with him.

The drive to the hospital was silent as Tony sped through the streets. Rose lost count of how many red lights the billionaire ran, her mind unable to focus on anything but Bruce. Would he be okay? She wanted an answer, and she wanted it now.

Tony was sure to stay close by Rose as they entered the hospital. A nurse led them to a secluded waiting room and it took all of Rose's willpower not to hound the poor woman for information.

Tony led Rose to a seat and sat down beside her, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Rose," he said in a calm and soothing voice, unbecoming of his usual self, "everything will be okay."

Rose didn't answer, simply stared straight ahead, silent. She couldn't show fear, she couldn't show weakness. Her silence was her self defense.

* * *

It seemed an eternity before they got word on Dr. Banner's condition, but finally, a doctor joined them in the waiting room.

"I'm Dr. Lowrey," said the doctor, looking down at the pair from where he stood, "I've been placed in charge of Dr. Banner. As of right now, he's in stable condition, but he hasn't woken up. He had to have a few stitches on his hand but otherwise he seems to be unharmed, though we are worried about the bruise on the back of his head."

"Can we see him?" Tony asked, knowing Rose would want to see Bruce, to know for a fact that he was okay.

"I'm afraid not," Dr. Lowrey replied, "there's the matter of visiting hours and everything and-"

"Shut up and let me see him!" Rose growled, finding herself on her feet in a flash.

"I'm sorry, Miss-"

"Take me to see Bruce," Rose commanded, her eyes a flaming green.

Dr. Lowrey sighed and nodded, unable to fight Rose's charmspoken orders. "Fine," he said, turning to leave and motioning for Rose to follow. Tony, rather frightened by this new side of Rose, decided it best to remain in the waiting room. He didn't want to piss her off, not when she had such power over everyone around her.

Dr. Lowrey led Rose down the halls, ignoring the strange looks he got from some of the staff. When they caught Rose's glare, they quickly returned to their work and didn't dare to question what in the hell was going on.

Finally, as they arrived at Dr. Banner's room, Dr. Lowrey paused and looked back at Rose. "Look," he said, "I'm going to let you in to see him only because I really don't want you to pull whatever you pulled back there again. Just, please, don't get me in trouble for this."

"Just open the door," Rose said, "please…and follow orders in the future and I won't have to pull my little party tricks on you anymore."

Dr. Lowrey nodded and opened the door, holding it for Rose as she slipped inside. "Do as you wish," Rose said as she slipped past him, "stay or go…" With that, her attention turned to Banner and she made her way to his bedside. He was out, but his breathing was steady. His right hand was all stitched up and there were bruises littered here and there all over his body. Rose wanted nothing more than to kiss away all of his wounds, but she knew she couldn't. Instead, she pulled up a chair and took his left hand with both of hers and stared at him, silently willing him to wake up. She wanted his arms around her again. She wanted to hear his voice. She wanted to know that he was alright, that he would be alright.

Dr. Lowrey watched this scene for a moment. Reluctantly, though, he wrenched himself away from the room and made his way down the hall, intending to have a private talk with Mr. Stark. He knew it would only cause more trouble if he told Rose his worries about Dr. Banner's condition. He didn't want to worry someone who could reduce him to nothing but an obedient little slave. Yes, that would be more than unwise. That would be downright foolish.


	23. Chapter 23

Dr. Lowrey made his way into the waiting room and paused at the sight of Mr. Stark talking on the phone. He didn't seem to notice Dr. Lowrey's presence and continued talking.

"Calm down, Pep," he said, "look, Bruce is fine from what we've heard."

"_You're sure?_"

"Yes," Tony answered, "he's the least of my worries right now, actually. I think someone planned this."

"_But who would want to hurt Bruce?_"

"A lot of people," Tony said, "that's the problem. I don't know how to start the investigation, much less how to keep Rose from worrying."

"_How's she holding up?_"

"You know how Bruce always said that you didn't want to see him angry?" Tony asked, "I think that statement is now far more accurate when referring to Rose."

"_Do I want to know what happened?_"

"Probably not," Tony said, "scared the shit out of me. Look, just get over here, Pep. And make sure Fury and the team know what's happened."

"_I'll talk to them. You stay there and try to keep Rose from turning into the Loki of the hospital._"

"That's a scary thought," Tony muttered, sighing and saying goodbye to Pepper before disconnecting the call. It was then that he looked up and noticed Dr. Lowrey.

"Something wrong, Doc?" Tony asked, slipping his phone into his pocket.

"Actually, yes," Dr. Lowrey said, "and, based on what I heard of your phone call, we had the same thought: it's best that Rose know as little as possible."

Tony nodded. "At this point, at least," he said, "so what is it you have to say that you don't want her to hear?"

"It's about Dr. Banner," Dr. Lowrey said, "…I have reason to believe that he sustained substantial brain damage."

"Just get to the point, please," Tony urged, "I'm pretty sure one of my closest friends was just attacked and I'm on the edge of my patience."

"Dr. Banner might have amnesia," Dr. Lowrey said.

Tony frowned. That was not good news. The Hulk not knowing who he was? That was trouble, plain and simple. That was a chemical mixture for disaster. That was a time bomb.

"You do know who you're talking about, right?" Tony asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I've done my research," Dr. Lowrey said, "I know who Dr. Banner is. Regardless of how well he's managed to hide with your help, the information on his identity is everywhere. I understand the potential danger this situation puts everyone in."

"Is there anything we can do?"

Dr. Lowrey looked away and sighed, shaking his head. "We don't yet know if I'm right in my predictions, but I doubt I am wrong. The best thing we can do is assess what he remembers when he awakens and try to keep him in a stress-free environment."

"So that's it?" Tony asked, "That's all we can do? Play a dangerous game of chess with him if your predictions turn out to be right?"

"There's not much else we can do, and you know it," Dr. Lowrey countered.

Tony sighed, running a hand through his dark hair. "Yeah, I do."

* * *

Rose let the thumb of one hand gently stroke Bruce's hand as she gazed down at the man. How had this happened? Fighting back her tears, she softly began to sing. It was the only thing that calmed her.

"_Please sing to me,_

_I can see you open up to breathe._

_Fast words make it easier on me._

_If the point is to never disappoint you,_

_Somebody's got to tell me what to do._

_Just wish you could've seen me,_

_When it used to come so easy._

_I like to say that it's easy to stay,_

_But it's not for me,_

_Cause I'm barely here at all._

_Slow down now, the secret's out,_

_And I swear now everything is perfect._

_What you want, what you need has been killing me._

_Try to be everything you want me to be._

_I say yes, I'll undress, I've done more for less._

_Now I'll change everything until it's perfect again."_

Rose sighed softly and brought Bruce's hand up to her face. She kissed it sweetly before lowering it back down to the bed. That was when she noticed Tony in the doorway.

"Hey," Tony said softly, leaning against the door frame with his hands in his pockets.

"Ever heard of knocking, Tony?" Rose retorted, though her reply lacked its usual venom and sting.

"You have a beautiful voice," Tony said, going over to Rose and gently placing a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Your compliments mean nothing to me right now," Rose said softly.

"I figured as such," Tony replied, "…how are you holding up?"

"I'm not the one who's hurt," Rose answered, "and if you're going to tell me that I should have been nicer to Lowrey, you can go fuck yourself."

"I'll take that as a 'not too good'," Tony muttered.

"Gee, it took you that long to realize that I'm freaking the hell out?" Rose growled.

"Calm down, Rose," Tony said, holding his hands up in surrender, "please. Look, I'm only trying to help."

"Well you're doing a shitty job that only a narcissistic bastard like Tony Stark could," Rose said, "and no, that's not a compliment."

"I'll take it as one," Tony muttered.

Rose sighed. Yes, she knew she was being ridiculously over-emotional, but she didn't give a fuck. She just wanted Bruce to wake up and be fine so she could stop worrying.

"Pepper's on her way," Tony said, "and I told her to contact Fury and the team and tell them what happened."

"How could you have told Pepper what happened if we don't even know?" Rose asked, finally turning to look at Tony.

"What do you mean?" Tony asked.

"Why was there an explosion?" Rose asked, "Bruce isn't an idiot. He wouldn't be playing around with anything explosive in the slightest. He can't risk an accident."

Tony was impressed. Even in her panicked state, Rose was still able to evaluate the situation expertly.

"You suspect foul play?" Tony asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I don't know," Rose answered, "but it's on my list of possibilities…and it's pretty high up there."

"I wasn't going to tell you, since I didn't want to worry you," Tony said, "but I was thinking the same thing."

"So you think someone attacked him?" Rose asked, the pain clear as crystal in her eyes. It was rare that Tony ever saw her in such a vulnerable state. Actually, this was the first time.

"Yeah," Tony said, "that's what I think. The trouble is, I don't know who. I mean, there are tons of people who want Banner gone, but all for different reasons. It would take ages to search through each and every possible suspect."

"That's not very reassuring, knowing that someone out in the world could have meant to hurt, or even kill, Bruce," Rose said.

"I know," Tony replied.

Rose looked down at Bruce and sighed, gently squeezing his hand. "Where is Dr. Lowrey?"

"I'm here," Dr. Lowrey said, slipping into the room that precise moment, "…Mr. Stark, Dr. Banner has visitors."

"Who?" Tony asked.

"A Miss Potts and a few others whose names I didn't catch," Dr. Lowrey said, "they are in the waiting room."

Tony nodded, gave Rose a sympathetic look, then left the room without another word. Rose looked up at Dr. Lowrey.

"No one comes in this room without express consent from either myself or Tony," Rose said, the intimidating look in her eyes making it clear she wasn't going to tolerate shit from anybody, "you got that?"

"You have my word," Dr. Lowrey said, "…I will watch him if you wish to go after Mr. Stark. You can trust me."

"I know I can," Rose said, standing and walking up to the doctor. She placed a hand on his shoulder and gave him a small smile. "I don't like using my powers any more than you like being controlled by them," she said, "…take good care of him while I'm gone."

"Of course," Dr. Lowrey said, returning the smile and watching as Rose released his arm, turned, and left the room. While she might be scary as fuck when she was angry, Dr. Lowrey believed that Rose was, in fact, a very sweet individual. He could see that she was good, and he liked that. He could respect that. Not that he had much choice but to respect someone with that much power, but still, the point stood that he respected her because she was a good person.


	24. Chapter 24

**_A/N:_**_ I regret to inform you that the next chapter will be the finale for Book 1 of the Still Dreaming Trilogy I intend to write. On another note, I hope you all have enjoyed the journey so far and will continue reading and reviewing. I love reviews. They make me feel loved. Seriously, I love all my readers! Anyhow, Chapter 24 awaits..._

* * *

Rose slipped into the waiting room to find not only Tony and Pepper, but the rest of the Avengers and Fury waiting. She was silent, not wanting to interrupt Tony.

"So far as we know, he's fine," Tony reassured the team, "it's just a waiting game right now." It was then that he noticed Rose's presence. He gave her a small smile and beckoned her over to the group. Rose cautiously approached.

"How are you doing, Rose?" Pepper asked sweetly. It was clear she understood how Rose was feeling. She'd once been this worried for Tony, after all. More than once, actually.

"I'm fine, I guess," Rose muttered, shrugging.

"Tony," Fury said, interrupting rather suddenly, "Dr. Banner can't stay in this hospital. It's not prepared to deal with the Hulk."

"I realize that," Tony replied, "but I'm sure as hell not going to risk scaring him by having him wake up in some crazy lab at SHIELD. You and I both know it's better he wakes up in this environment than that one."

"I'm with Tony on this," Rose said, "he's staying here. That's final."

"You don't have the authority to tell me what's final," Fury said.

"Actually, I do," Rose corrected, staring Fury down.

"Since when?" Fury asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Since now," Rose growled, her words laced with power, "Bruce stays here until I say otherwise. Is that clear?"

Fury could do nothing but nod as the rest of the group just stared wide-eyed towards Rose. That is, save for Tony since he'd already seen her demonstrate her abilities earlier on Dr. Lowrey.

"You weren't lying, Tony," Pepper whispered to the billionaire, "…that's scary." Tony just nodded, reaching out and placing a hand on Rose's shoulder.

"Calm down, Rose," Tony said in a soothing voice, "…you've done enough."

Rose bit her lip and looked away, shrugging off Tony's hand.

"How did you do that?" Steve asked, awestruck at the way Rose had manipulated Fury to her will.

"Not important," Rose muttered, refusing to look at anyone.

"Reminds me of how Loki…" Clint trailed off, leaving the rest of his thoughts unspoken. Everyone knew the ending. _How Loki had controlled him_.

Fury sighed and just shook his head. "Bruce will stay here until further notice," he said, "let's just leave it at that." He looked at Rose with his one eye until she finally sensed his stare and looked up.

"I don't know what you did to me or how you did it," Fury said, "but don't do it again."

"She doesn't have to listen to you, Fury," Tony spat, saying it without thinking.

"Are you crazy, Stark?" Steve asked, "Encouraging her to defy authority?"

"What? Like you've never disobeyed our dear director here?" Tony replied.

Steve frowned. Tony was right. Steve had defied Director Fury…once.

"So what if he disobeyed once?" Fury said, "He's still got nothing on your streak. He has a point, you shouldn't be encouraging her."

"Why the fuck not?" Tony asked.

"Because you know what I can do," Rose exclaimed, causing everyone to turn to look at her. Silence enveloped the room. Everyone stood there for a long time as Rose grew to regret ever saying anything. Just as she was about to turn and leave, Clint spoke up.

"What exactly can you do?" he asked.

Rose looked to Clint and stared him down for a long moment before relenting and looking away. "Too much," she murmured.

"Rose," Fury said, taking care to remember that Rose hated formalities, "…I believe it would be best that you answer Agent Barton's question in detail. Clearly you and Stark have been keeping valuable information on your abilities from us. I believe it would be best if everything was out in the open."

"Bruce and Pepper know too," Tony said.

Rose frowned, but Fury did not look away from her. He wanted an answer from her and he wasn't going to give up until he got one. Frankly, she'd rather just give him what he wanted than manipulate him so she wouldn't have to answer.

"Charmspeak and mind control," Rose muttered shortly, "…that's it…aside from what you already know."

Steve whistled and Natasha looked to Rose, fixing a serious gaze on the blue-haired woman.

"That's a dangerous combination, Rose," Natasha said.

"Please, don't remind me," Rose whispered, "…look, I…I think I'll just go…"

"Go where?" Pepper asked.

"To relieve Dr. Lowrey," Rose muttered, turning to go, "…and be alone with Bruce."

The team watched in silence as Rose left. Everyone looked around the group once she was gone, unsure what to say, if anything.

"Why didn't you tell us, Stark?" Fury asked, finally breaking the silence.

"It never came up," Tony admitted, "it's a fairly recent discovery, actually. And she's got a bit of telepathy…she didn't mention that one because it doesn't really count."

"Why not?" Natasha asked.

"It's intermittent," Tony said, "she can't control when she reads minds or what she reads…it just happens…and it just so happened she was really lucky when Bruce tested that ability…"

"I don't know about the rest of you," Clint said, "but I'm not interested in the abilities themselves. I'm interested in how she got them."

"She was born with them," Fury replied, "she said she's been able to dreamwalk as long as she could remember."

"I get that," Clint said, "but why? Why would she have the abilities? How would it be possible for her to have them?"

"Interesting question," Tony muttered, his mind already working on how he could research that, "I'll work on that."

"Look," Steve said, "I know we're all pretty shaken with this stuff with Rose, but we still have the problem of Bruce. Pepper said you were keeping something about his condition from Rose, Tony?"

Tony frowned. "Yeah," he said, "…it's best not to worry her in this state. I mean, she figured out my suspicions about it being an attack on her own so I couldn't keep her from worrying about that, but this is much worse."

"Spill," Fury said authoritatively.

Tony sighed. "Bruce might wake up with amnesia."

"The Hulk with amnesia?" Clint asked.

"I don't want to see that," Natasha said, shaking her head.

"Nobody does," Tony agreed, "but it's a huge possibility, and I don't know how we're going to deal with it if it happens."

"For one thing," Fury said, "you'll have to explain to Rose that you knew about this and deal with her chewing you out for not telling her. I think that might be worse than worrying her."

"I'll cross that bridge when I come to it," Tony replied, hating that Fury was right.

* * *

Rose slipped into the room and smiled only slightly towards Dr. Lowrey. "Thank you," she said softly, "for staying with him."

Dr. Lowrey nodded and stood from his seat, heading to Rose. "I have some work to do," he said, "…I'll make sure the staff knows that you're allowed in here."

Rose smiled. "Thank you," she said, "…I don't want to scare them like I did you." _And my friends_, she added mentally.

Dr. Lowrey placed a hand on her shoulder and gave it a squeeze before slipping past the woman and leaving the room. He closed the door on his way out.

Rose returned to the seat at Bruce's bedside and took up his hand like she had before.

"I'll be right here, Bruce," she whispered, "I'll stay with you. I love you."


	25. Chapter 25

_**A/N:**__ And finally, the long anticipated final chapter of Book 1. Enjoy, darlings…it only gets better in Book 2._

* * *

It was now a quarter to midnight and Rose was adamant to remain at Bruce's side. She refused to move, to even so much as let go of his hand. Everyone kept telling her that she needed her rest, but she would have none of it. She was determined to remain at Bruce's side like she'd promised him she would.

"I'm not leaving," she said again.

"Please, Rose," Steve said, "you need your rest, we all do."

"I will rest here," Rose replied, "I have no problem sleeping in a chair."

"Guys," Tony said, sighing, "…why don't we all just leave her be? If she wants to stay, let's let her stay."

Everyone looked around, sighing and finally agreeing to give up trying to convince Rose to go back to the tower to sleep. Most of the group leaves the hospital room and goes home, but Pepper and Steve decide to stay the night in the waiting room, not wanting Rose to be alone. Tony remains in the hospital room, wanting to have a moment alone with Rose…and Bruce, but he didn't count right then.

Tony pulled up a chair and sat beside Rose, watching her stroke Bruce's hand with her thumb for a moment. Finally, he spoke up.

"Rose," he said, pausing. Should he tell her about the doctor's condition or ask about her powers?

Rose doesn't turn to look at Tony as she replies in a soft voice, "Yes?"

Tony makes the stubborn decision of not telling Rose about the doctor's condition and asks, "How'd you get your powers? I mean, I know you didn't know about the rest of them until recently, but…"

Rose sighs and finally looks to Tony. "I don't honestly know," she said softly, "I've had them as long as I can remember. I was probably born with them, but I don't understand why. Neither of my parent had any special powers or anything, and I definitely wasn't in any crazy accident like Bruce."

Tony nodded. "You've never spoken about your parents," he replied.

"I don't like to," Rose answered, looking down, "they…died…there was a shooting…I don't know all the details. In fact, I don't know anything about the shooting. All the survivors had crazy stories that made no sense. Some said it was a robbery, some said it was just random. Others even told stories of someone who appeared out of nowhere and started attacking the shooters. All I know for sure is that my parents died and that I'm glad I wasn't there." By now there were tears in her pretty green eyes and she sighed, bringing a hand up to wipe them away.

Tony gently placed a comforting hand on Rose's shoulder. "Tell me about your parents. What were they like?"

"My mother…" Rose said softly, "my mother was named Jenna. I was born out of wedlock and she married my father when I was five. My father, Richard, worked for a bank. He had brown hair and sweet blue eyes. He was one of the sweetest men I ever knew. He'd always bring something home for me when he went on business trips and that sort of thing. Mom had blonde hair and grey eyes and the brightest smile I've ever seen. She was a stay at home mom and she raised me for the most part. I was an only child."

"Sounds like you grew up in a happy family," Tony reflected.

"I did," Rose replied, "and whenever I would come home from a bad day at school, my parents would always be there to cheer me up. Seeing them was the highlight of my day. You see, I got bullied a lot…"

"Why?" Tony asked, "You're perfectly normal."

"Normal?" Rose asked, "Not even close. I'm a loner, Tony, always have been. I've only changed since Bruce and the rest of the team became a part of my life. I didn't like getting too close to people back then because I was always afraid they'd find out about my powers and hate me. Some people figured out that I was hiding something and the bullying got even worse. And it didn't help that I was blonde. People thought I was stupid, not just a loner or a freak."

Tony kept his hand resting gently on Rose's shoulder, watching his friend's eyes well up with more tears. Silently, he pulled her into a hug, and, to his surprise, she hugged back.

"Tony," Rose whispered, "…thank you for listening…"

Tony smiled a bit and pulled back from the hug, looking into Rose's green eyes as he replied, "That's what friends are for."

That was when the world stopped for Tony. Those eyes. He'd seen them before, and not just on Rose. Wait…neither of her parents had green eyes.

"I…I just remembered," Tony said, pulling away and standing, "I should go clean up Bruce's lab…you know, see what I can find."

Rose nodded, surprised by Tony's sudden change. "Alright," she said, "…that's…that's a good idea."

"Goodnight," Tony said, turning to go.

"Goodnight," Rose replied, watching the billionaire leave. Something was up with him. What could it be? Was it something she said?

* * *

Tony hurried for the waiting room and found Pepper and Steve. "Hey," he said, "…I…I'm gonna head back to the tower. There's something I need to check out…"

"What?" Pepper asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I…I need to clean up Banner's lab and see if there's any evidence," Tony lied. Really, he had other plans. He had a little detail he had to investigate. Those eyes. He knew he'd seen them, but he just couldn't pinpoint when or where. Of course, he was going to look at Banner's lab later as well, but at this point it was not his top priority.

"Want me to come along?" Pepper asked.

Tony quickly shook his head. "I'll be fine," he said, leaving the room before anyone could protest.

* * *

A few hours passed and Rose found herself unable to sleep. She sighed to herself, her hands still holding Bruce's.

"Bruce," she whispered, "please wake up. I can't sleep until I know you're okay."

The minutes slowly ticked past and Rose listened to both hers and Bruce's breathing. Suddenly, though, she heard a slight movement and glanced at Bruce. His brown eyes opened slowly and Rose's eyes widened.

"Bruce?" she asked softly.

Bruce looked around the room from where he lay, looking rather confused. "Where am I?" he asked.

"You're in the hospital," Rose answered, "there was an explosion…I don't really know what happened. I was hoping you could tell me."

Bruce struggled to sit up and looked to Rose. "I don't remember anything," he said softly. He sat there, frantically trying to remember something, anything, but nothing came.

"Who are you?" Bruce asked.

Rose's eyes widened. "You…don't remember?" she asked, suddenly afraid.

"No," Bruce said softly, glancing down at the hand Rose was holding. He couldn't bring himself to take his hand back, not when she was looking at him like that.

"What do you remember?" Rose asked, trying to stay calm. She really just wanted to cry. Bruce didn't remember her. How was that possible?

"I remember…" Bruce said, thinking, "…I remember the Hulk…and Betty…"

Rose frowned, a tear escaping her eye and trailing down her cheek as she said, "I'll help you remember everything, Bruce. I promise."

"Why do you want to help me?" Bruce asked, "You obviously know who I am, what I am. Why would you want to help a freak like me?"

"Because I love you," Rose said, "and because you love me. You just have to remember."

* * *

**_A/N:_**_ And that concludes Book 1. Book 2 will begin soon and can be found on my author page once it is released. How will our two love-birds fare? What is it about Rose's eyes that's freaking Tony out? What's Betty's next move? All will be revealed in Still Believing, Book 2 of the trilogy._


	26. Author's Note

_**A/N: **Please view my author page to find Book 2: Still Believing!__  
_


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